Logic circuit and semiconductor device

ABSTRACT

To reduce a leakage current of a transistor so that malfunction of a logic circuit can be suppressed. The logic circuit includes a transistor which includes an oxide semiconductor layer having a function of a channel formation layer and in which an off current is 1×10 −13  A or less per micrometer in channel width. A first signal, a second signal, and a third signal that is a clock signal are input as input signals. A fourth signal and a fifth signal whose voltage states are set in accordance with the first to third signals which have been input are output as output signals.

TECHNICAL FIELD

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a logic circuit. Inaddition, an embodiment of the present invention relates to asemiconductor device including a driver circuit formed using the logiccircuit.

Note that a semiconductor device in this specification refers to ageneral device which can function by utilizing semiconductorcharacteristics. Electrooptic devices such as display devices,semiconductor circuits, and electronic devices are all semiconductordevices.

BACKGROUND ART

Thin film transistors (hereinafter also referred to as TFTs) formed overa flat plate such as a glass substrate, which are typically used inliquid crystal display devices, are generally formed using semiconductormaterials such as amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon. AlthoughTFTs formed using amorphous silicon have low field-effect mobility, theyhave an advantage that larger glass substrates can be used. Meanwhile,TFTs formed using polycrystalline silicon have high field-effectmobility; however, they need to be subjected to a crystallization stepsuch as laser annealing and thus are not always suitable for largerglass substrates.

On the other hand, TFTs formed using oxide semiconductors assemiconductor materials have attracted attention. For example, PatentDocuments 1 and 2 each disclose a technique in which a TFT is formedusing zinc oxide or an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor as asemiconductor material and used for a switching element in an imagedisplay device.

A TFT in which a channel formation region (also referred to as a channelregion) is provided in an oxide semiconductor can have a higher electricfield mobility than a TFT formed using amorphous silicon. An oxidesemiconductor film can be formed with a sputtering method or the likeand thus, fabrication of the TFT using an oxide semiconductor is easierthan that of the TFT using polycrystalline silicon.

TFTs formed using such an oxide semiconductor are expected to be appliedto switching elements included in pixel portions and driver circuits ofdisplay devices such as a liquid crystal display, an electroluminescentdisplay (hereinafter also referred to as an EL display), and electronicpaper. For example, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique in which apixel portion and a driver circuit of a display device are formed usingTFTs each formed using the oxide semiconductor described above.

REFERENCE

-   [Patent Document 1] Japanese Published Patent Application No.    2006-165527-   [Patent Document 2] Japanese Published Patent Application No.    2006-165529-   [Patent Document 3] Japanese Published Patent Application No.    2006-165528

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

A driver circuit includes a shift register, a buffer, and the like andthe shift register or the buffer includes a logic circuit. The logiccircuit is formed using a transistor; however, in a conventionaltransistor, a leakage current is generated in some cases even when thetransistor is off. When a leakage current is generated, for example,even in the case where a value of a voltage of an output signal is to bemaintained within a certain range in the logic circuit, the value of theoutput signal fluctuates and thus malfunction may occur.

An object of one embodiment of the present invention is to reduce aleakage current of a transistor and another object is to reduce aleakage current of a transistor so that malfunction of a logic circuitcan be suppressed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a transistor in which an offcurrent is small and which includes an oxide semiconductor layer havinga function of a channel formation layer is used as a transistor includedin a logic circuit. With this embodiment, malfunction in the logiccircuit is suppressed.

The oxide semiconductor layer used for a channel formation layer of atransistor is an intrinsic or substantially intrinsic semiconductorhighly purified by removing an impurity which is to be an electron donor(donor) from an oxide semiconductor and has a larger energy gap than asilicon semiconductor. In a transistor including the oxide semiconductorlayer, a leakage current (off current) is small when the transistor isoff In addition, the transistor including the oxide semiconductor layeras the channel formation layer is not significantly affected byvariation in threshold voltage.

An embodiment of the present invention is a logic circuit including atransistor which includes an oxide semiconductor layer having a functionof a channel formation layer and in which an off current is 1×10⁻¹³ A orless (preferably, 1×10⁻¹⁷ A or less) per micrometer in channel width. Afirst signal, a second signal, and a third signal that is a clock signalare input as input signals. A fourth signal and a fifth signal whosevoltage states are set in accordance with the first signal, the secondsignal, and the third signal which have been input are output as outputsignals.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a logic circuit may include afirst unit logic circuit which outputs a fourth signal whose voltagestate is set in accordance with first to third signals which have beeninput, and a second unit logic circuit which outputs a fifth signalwhose voltage state is set in accordance with the first to third signalswhich have been input.

An embodiment of the present invention is a logic circuit including afirst unit logic circuit and a second unit logic circuit. To the firstunit logic circuit, a first signal, a second signal, and a third signalthat is a clock signal are input as input signals. In addition, thefirst unit logic circuit outputs a fourth signal whose voltage state isset in accordance with the first to third signals which have been input.To the second unit logic circuit, the first signal, the second signal,and the third signal that is a clock signal are input as input signals.In addition, the second unit logic circuit outputs a fifth signal whosevoltage state is set in accordance with the first to third signals whichhave been input. The first unit logic circuit and the second unit logiccircuit each include a first transistor, a second transistor, a firstcapacitor, a third transistor, a fourth transistor, and a secondcapacitor. The first transistor has a gate, a source, and a drain, wherethe third signal is input to the gate and one of the first signal andthe second signal is input to one of the source and the drain. Thesecond transistor has a gate, a source, and a drain, where the gate iselectrically connected to the other of the source and the drain of thefirst transistor, one of a high power supply voltage and a low powersupply voltage is applied to one of the source and the drain, and avoltage of the other of the source and the drain is a voltage of thefourth signal or the fifth signal. The first capacitor has a firstelectrode and a second electrode, where the first electrode iselectrically connected to the gate of the second transistor and thesecond electrode is electrically connected to the other of the sourceand the drain of the second transistor. The third transistor has a gate,a source, and a drain, where the third signal is input to the gate andthe other of the first signal and the second signal is input to one ofthe source and the drain. The fourth transistor has a gate, a source,and a drain, where the gate is electrically connected to the other ofthe source and the drain of the third transistor, one of the source andthe drain is electrically connected to one of the source and the drainof the second transistor, and the other of the high power supply voltageand the low power supply voltage is input to the other of the source andthe drain. The second capacitor has a first electrode and a secondelectrode, where the first electrode is electrically connected to theother of the source and the drain of the third transistor, and the otherof the high power supply voltage and the low power supply voltage isinput to the second electrode. The first to fourth transistors eachinclude an oxide semiconductor layer having a function of a channelformation layer. An off current in each of the first to fourthtransistors is 1×10⁻¹³ A or less (preferably, 1×10⁻¹⁷ A or less) permicrometer in channel width.

An embodiment of the present invention is a semiconductor deviceincluding a driver circuit and a pixel portion. The driver circuit isprovided with a shift register including the logic circuit describedabove. The pixel portion includes a pixel whose display state iscontrolled by the driver circuit.

With an embodiment of the present invention, a leakage current in atransistor can be reduced. In addition, by reducing a leakage current inthe transistor, a voltage of an output signal can be maintained to be avalue within a desired range. Accordingly, malfunction can besuppressed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a configuration example of a logic circuit inEmbodiment 1.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating a configuration example of ashift register in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating an example of an operation of theshift register in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are block diagrams each illustrating a semiconductordevice in Embodiment 1.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate a configuration and a timing chart of asignal line driver circuit in Embodiment 1, respectively.

FIGS. 6A to 6E illustrate a method for manufacturing a transistor.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate a transistor.

FIGS. 8A to 8E illustrate a method for manufacturing a transistor.

FIGS. 9A and 9B each illustrate a transistor.

FIGS. 10A to 10E illustrate a method for manufacturing a transistor.

FIGS. 11A to 11E illustrate a method for manufacturing a transistor.

FIGS. 12A to 12D illustrate a method for manufacturing a transistor.

FIGS. 13A to 13D illustrate a method for manufacturing a transistor.

FIG. 14 illustrates a transistor.

FIGS. 15A to 15C illustrate semiconductor devices.

FIG. 16 illustrates an equivalent circuit of a pixel in a semiconductordevice.

FIGS. 17A to 17C illustrate semiconductor devices.

FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate a semiconductor device.

FIG. 19 illustrates a semiconductor device.

FIGS. 20A and 20B illustrate electronic appliances.

FIGS. 21A and 21B illustrate electronic appliances.

FIG. 22 illustrates an electronic appliance.

FIG. 23 illustrates an electronic appliance.

FIG. 24 illustrates a source-drain band structure of a MOS transistorformed using an oxide semiconductor.

FIG. 25 illustrates a state where a positive voltage is applied on thedrain side in FIG. 24.

FIGS. 26A and 26B are energy band diagrams of a MOS transistor formedusing an oxide semiconductor in the case where a gate voltage ispositive and the case where a gate voltage is negative, respectively.

FIG. 27 illustrates a source-drain band structure of a silicon MOStransistor.

FIG. 28 is a graph showing initial characteristics of a thin filmtransistor.

FIGS. 29A and 29B are top plan views illustrating a thin filmtransistor.

FIGS. 30A and 30B are a graph showing Vg-Id characteristics of a thinfilm transistor.

FIGS. 31A and 31B illustrate a semiconductor device.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are described with reference todrawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to thefollowing description, and it will be easily understood by those skilledin the art that the modes and details of the present invention can bemodified in various ways without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. Therefore, the present invention should not beconstrued as being limited to the following description of theembodiments.

Embodiment 1

In this embodiment, a logic circuit which is an embodiment of thepresent invention is described first. In this specification, a logiccircuit includes a combinational logic circuit where a state of anoutput signal at some point in time is determined by a state of an inputsignal at the point in time except in the specified case and asequential logic circuit where a state of an output signal at some pointin time is determined by not only a state of an input signal at thepoint in time but also a state of the sequential logic circuit at thetime before the point in time in its category.

An example of a configuration of a logic circuit in this embodiment isdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B. FIGS. 1A and 1B illustratean example of a configuration of a logic circuit in this embodiment.

To a logic circuit 100 in FIG. 1A, signals IN1, IN2, and CK1 are inputas input signals. The logic circuit 100 in FIG. 1A outputs signals OUT1a and OUT1 b as output signals.

Note that voltage generally refers to a difference between potentials attwo points (also referred to as a potential difference). However, valuesof both a voltage and a potential are represented using volt (V) in acircuit diagram or the like in some cases, so that it is difficult todiscriminate between them. This is why in this specification, apotential difference between a potential at one point and a potential tobe the reference (also referred to as the reference potential) is usedas a voltage at the point in some cases.

Note that as a signal in this specification, an analog signal or adigital signal which uses voltage, current, resistance, frequency, orthe like can be used, for example. For example, as a signal with voltage(also referred to as a voltage signal), it is preferable to use a signalhaving at least a first voltage state and a second voltage state. Abinary digital signal which has a high-level voltage state as the firstvoltage state and a low-level voltage state as the second voltage statecan be used, for example. Note that in a binary digital signal, ahigh-level voltage is also referred to as V_(H) and a low-level voltageis also referred to as V_(L). Moreover, each of a voltage in the firstvoltage state and a voltage in the second voltage state is preferably afixed value. However, since noise or the like, for example, has aninfluence on an electronic circuit, each of the voltage in the firstvoltage state and the voltage in the second voltage state is notnecessarily a fixed value and may be a value within a certain range.

Note that in this specification, a high power supply voltage refers to avoltage on the relatively high voltage side (also referred to as VDD)and a low power supply voltage refers to a voltage on the relatively lowvoltage side (also referred to as VSS). Each of the high power supplyvoltage and the low power supply voltage is preferably constant;however, in an electronic circuit, a voltage sometimes varies from adesired value due to noise or the like. Therefore, in thisspecification, such a voltage can be considered as the high power supplyvoltage or the low power supply voltage as long as it is a value withina certain range. Further, a value of each power supply voltage can beset as appropriate. Note that positions where a high power supplyvoltage and a low power supply voltage are applied are switcheddepending on the polarity of a transistor, so that one of the high powersupply voltage and the low power supply voltage is one of them and theother is the other of them.

Further, in this specification, terms with ordinal numbers such as“first” and “second” are used in order to avoid confusion amongcomponents, and the terms do not limit the components numerically.

As the signal IN2, an inverted signal of the signal IN1, or the like canbe used for example.

The signal CK1 functions as a clock signal of the logic circuit 100.

The signal OUT1 a is a signal whose voltage state is set by the signalsIN1 and IN2 input.

The signal OUT1 b is a signal whose voltage state is set by the signalsIN1 and IN2 input.

In addition, FIG. 1B illustrates an example of a circuit configurationof the logic circuit illustrated in FIG. 1A. The logic circuitillustrated in FIG. 1B includes a unit logic circuit 131 and a unitlogic circuit 132.

To the unit logic circuit 131, the signals IN1, IN2, and CK1 are input.The unit logic circuit 131 has a function of outputting the signal OUT1a whose voltage state is set in accordance with the signals IN1, IN2,and CK1 input.

To the unit logic circuit 132, the signals IN1, IN2, and CK1 are input.The unit logic circuit 132 has a function of outputting the signal OUT1b whose voltage state is set in accordance with the signals IN1, IN2,and CK1 input.

The unit logic circuit 131 includes a transistor 101, a transistor 102,a capacitor 103, a transistor 104, a transistor 105, and a capacitor106. The unit logic circuit 132 includes a transistor 107, a transistor108, a capacitor 109, a transistor 110, a transistor 111, and acapacitor 112.

Note that in this specification, a field-effect transistor can be usedas each transistor, for example.

In this specification, a field-effect transistor has at least a gate, asource, and a drain. As the field-effect transistor, a thin filmtransistor (also referred to as a TFT) can be used, for example.Moreover, the field-effect transistor can have a top-gate structure or abottom-gate structure, for example. Further, the field-effect transistorcan have n-type or p-type conductivity. As an example, the case isdescribed in which all the transistors in the logic circuit illustratedin FIGS. 1A and 1B are field-effect transistors of the same conductivitytype. When all the transistors have the same conductivity type, thenumber of manufacturing steps can be reduced as compared to the casewhere transistors with different conductivities are used.

Note that the gate is an entire gate electrode and an entire gate wiringor part of them. The gate wiring is a wiring for electrically connectinga gate electrode of at least one transistor to another electrode oranother wiring, and includes a scan line in a display device in itscategory, for example.

The source is an entire source region, an entire source electrode, andan entire source wiring or part of them. The source region is a regionwhose resistance is lower than that of a channel formation layer in asemiconductor layer. The source electrode is part of a conductive layer,which is connected to the source region. The source wiring is a wiringfor electrically connecting a source electrode of at least onetransistor to another electrode or another wiring. For example, in thecase where a signal line in a display device is electrically connectedto a source electrode, the source wiring includes the signal line in itscategory.

The drain is an entire drain region, an entire drain electrode, and anentire drain wiring or part of them. The drain region is a region whoseresistance is lower than that of a channel formation layer in asemiconductor layer. The drain electrode is part of a conductive layer,which is connected to the drain region. The drain wiring is a wiring forelectrically connecting a drain electrode of at least one transistor toanother electrode or another wiring. For example, in the case where asignal line in a display device is electrically connected to a drainelectrode, the drain wiring includes the signal line in its category.

In addition, in this document (the specification, the claims, thedrawings, and the like), a source and a drain of a transistor areswitched depending on the structure, the operating conditions, or thelike of the transistor; therefore, it is difficult to determine which isthe source and which is the drain. Accordingly, in this document (thespecification, the claims, the drawings, and the like), one of thesource and the drain, which is freely selected, is referred to as one ofthe source and the drain, whereas the other is referred to as the otherof the source and the drain.

Further, in this document (the specification, the claims, the drawings,and the like), a capacitor includes a first electrode, a secondelectrode, and a dielectric to which a voltage between the firstelectrode and the second electrode is applied.

In the transistor 101, the signal CK1 is input to a gate and the signalIN1 is input to one of a source and a drain.

A gate of the transistor 102 is electrically connected to the other ofthe source and the drain of the transistor 101. One of a high powersupply voltage and a low power supply voltage is applied to one of asource and a drain of the transistor 102. As an example, in FIGS. 1A and1B, a high power supply voltage is applied to one of the source and thedrain of the transistor 102. Note that a connection portion where thegate of the transistor 102 and the other of the source and the drain ofthe transistor 101 are connected to each other is referred to as a node121. In addition, the logic circuit illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1Boutputs a voltage of the other of the source and the drain of thetransistor 102 as the signal OUT1 a.

A first electrode of the capacitor 103 is electrically connected to thegate of the transistor 102, and a second electrode of the capacitor 103is electrically connected to the other of the source and the drain ofthe transistor 102. Note that in the case where parasitic capacitance isbetween the gate and the other of the source and the drain of thetransistor 102, the parasitic capacitance may be used as the capacitor103.

In the transistor 104, the signal CK1 is input to a gate and the signalIN2 is input to one of a source and a drain.

A gate of the transistor 105 is electrically connected to the other ofthe source and the drain of the transistor 104. One of a source and adrain of the transistor 105 is electrically connected to the other ofthe source and the drain of the transistor 102. The other of the highpower supply voltage and the low power supply voltage is applied to theother of the source and the drain of the transistor 105. As an example,in the logic circuit in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a low power supply voltage isapplied to the other of the source and the drain of the transistor 105.Note that a connection portion where the gate of the transistor 105 andthe other of the source and the drain of the transistor 104 areconnected to each other is referred to as a node 122.

A first electrode of the capacitor 106 is electrically connected to theother of the source and the drain of the transistor 104, and the otherof the high power supply voltage and the low power supply voltage isapplied to a second electrode of the capacitor 106. As an example, inthe logic circuit illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the low power supplyvoltage is applied to the second electrode of the capacitor 106.

In the transistor 107, the signal CK1 is input to a gate and the signalIN2 is input to one of a source and a drain.

A gate of the transistor 108 is electrically connected to the other ofthe source and the drain of the transistor 107. One of the high powersupply voltage and the low power supply voltage is applied to one of asource and a drain of the transistor 108. Note that the logic circuit inFIGS. 1A and 1B outputs a voltage of the other of the source and thedrain of the transistor 108 as the signal OUT1 b. Note that a connectionportion where the gate of the transistor 108 and the other of the sourceand the drain of the transistor 107 are connected to each other isreferred to as a node 123.

A first electrode of the capacitor 109 is electrically connected to thegate of the transistor 108, and a second electrode of the capacitor 109is electrically connected to the other of the source and the drain ofthe transistor 108. Note that in the case where parasitic capacitance isbetween the gate and the other of the source and the drain of thetransistor 108, the parasitic capacitance may be used as the capacitor109.

In the transistor 110, the signal CK1 is input to a gate and the signalIN1 is input to one of a source and a drain.

A gate of the transistor 111 is electrically connected to the other ofthe source and the drain of the transistor 110. One of a source and adrain of the transistor 111 is electrically connected to the other ofthe source and the drain of the transistor 108. The other of the highpower supply voltage and the low power supply voltage is applied to theother of the source and the drain of the transistor 111. As an example,in the logic circuit in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a low power supply voltage isapplied to the other of the source and the drain of the transistor 111.Note that a connection portion where the gate of the transistor 111 andthe other of the source and the drain of the transistor 110 areconnected to each other is referred to as a node 124.

A first electrode of the capacitor 112 is electrically connected to theother of the source and the drain of the transistor 110, and the otherof the high power supply voltage and the low power supply voltage isapplied to a second electrode of the capacitor 112. Note thatdescription is given assuming that the low power supply voltage isapplied to the second electrode of the capacitor 112 in the logiccircuit illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

Note that a transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer having afunction of a channel formation layer can be used as each of thetransistors 101, 102, 104, 105, 107, 108, 110, and 111. Note that theconcentrations of hydrogen in the channel formation layer is 5×10¹⁹/cm³or less, preferably 5×10¹⁸/cm³ or less, more preferably 5×10¹⁷/cm³ orless. The concentrations of hydrogen are measured using, for example,secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The carrier concentrations ofthe transistors are 1×10¹⁴/cm³ or less, preferably 1×10¹²/cm³ or less.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B as an example, a first signal (e.g.,the signal IN1), a second signal (e.g., the signal IN2), and a thirdsignal (e.g., the signal CK1) are input to the logic circuit in thisembodiment as input signals, and the logic circuit in this embodimentoutputs a fourth signal (e.g., the signal OUT1 a) and a fifth signal(e.g., the signal OUT1 b) whose voltage states are set in accordancewith the first to third signals input, as output signals.

Further, the example of the logic circuit of this embodiment is formedusing transistors having the same conductivity type. By using thetransistors having the same conductivity type, the number ofmanufacturing steps can be reduced as compared to the case wheretransistors with a plurality of conductivity types are used. Astransistors having the same conductivity type, for example, n-channeltransistors and p-channel transistors can be used.

Further, FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a structure of a shiftregister using the logic circuits illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B. FIG. 2is a circuit diagram illustrating the example of the structure of theshift register. Note that the number of the logic circuits is notnecessarily limited as long as the logic circuits of two or more stagesare provided. Note that FIG. 2 illustrates an example where transistorsincluded in the shift register are all n-channel transistors; however,an embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this andp-channel transistors may be used.

The shift register illustrated in FIG. 2 includes logic circuits 151,152, and 153. Note that in each of the logic circuits illustrated inFIG. 2, the description of the logic circuit illustrated in FIGS. 1A and1B is employed as appropriate for the same portion as that of the logiccircuit in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The logic circuits 151, 152, and 153 are allsequential logic circuits.

As in the logic circuit in FIGS. 1A and 1B, in the logic circuit 151,the signal CK1 is input to a gate of the transistor 101, a gate of thetransistor 104, a gate of the transistor 107, and a gate of thetransistor 110, as an input signal; the signal IN1 is input to one of asource and a drain of the transistor 101 and one of a source and a drainof the transistor 110, as an input signal; and the signal IN2 is inputto one of a source and a drain of the transistor 104 and one of a sourceand a drain of the transistor 107, as an input signal. In addition, thelogic circuit 151 outputs the signals OUT1 a and OUT1 b whose voltagestates are set in accordance with states of the input signals, as outputsignals.

The signals OUT1 a and OUT1 b, and a signal CK2 are input to the logiccircuit 152 as input signals, and the logic circuit 152 outputs signalsOUT2 a and OUT2 b whose voltage states are set in accordance with theinput signals, as output signals. A configuration of the logic circuit152 is the same as that of the logic circuit 151.

The signal CK2 is a signal input to the logic circuit 152 instead of thesignal CK1 in the logic circuit 151. As the signal CK2, a clock signalthat is at a high level at a timing different from that of the signalCK1 can be used, for example. The shift register of this embodiment canhave a structure in which the logic circuit to which the signal CK1 isinput and the logic circuit to which the signal CK2 is input areelectrically connected to each other. For example, one of the signalsCK1 and CK2 may be input to the logic circuits of odd-numbered stages inthe shift register and the other of the signals CK1 and CK2 may be inputto the logic circuits of even-numbered stages in the shift register.

The signals OUT2 a, OUT2 b, and CK1 are input to the logic circuit 153as input signals, and the logic circuit 153 outputs signals OUT3 a andOUT3 b whose voltage states are set in accordance with the inputsignals, as output signals. A configuration of the logic circuit 153 isthe same as that of the logic circuit 151.

Next, an example of operation of the shift register illustrated in FIG.2 is described with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a timing chartillustrating an example of the operation of the shift registerillustrated in FIG. 2, and illustrates signal waveforms of the signalCK1, the signal CK2, the signal IN1, the signal IN2, the node 121, thenode 122, the node 123, the node 124, the signal OUT1 a, the signal OUT1b, the signal OUT2 a, the signal OUT2 b, the signal OUT3 a, and thesignal OUT3 b. Note that in the example of the operation of the shiftregister in FIG. 2, which is described with reference to FIG. 3, each ofthe signals is a binary digital signal and the signals CK1 and CK2 areclock signals. The value of the high power supply voltage is equal to ahigh-level voltage V_(H) and the value of the low power supply voltageis equal to a low-level voltage V_(L). Further, in the operation of thelogic circuit in this embodiment, the voltage state of each of thesignals illustrated in FIG. 3 can be inverted.

The operation of the shift register in FIG. 2 can be divided into aplurality of periods, for description. The operation in each period isdescribed below.

First, the operation in each period is described focusing the logiccircuit 151. In a period 141, the signal CK1 is at a low level, thesignal CK2 is at a low level, the signal IN1 is at a low level, and thesignal IN2 is at a high level.

At that time, the signals OUT1 a, OUT1 b, and OUT2 a in the logiccircuit 151 are at a low level.

Then, in a period 142, the signal CK1 is set to a high level at a timeA2, the signal CK2 remains at a low level, the signal IN1 is at a highlevel, and the signal IN2 is at a low level. Note that the signal IN1may be set to a high level in the period 141 and the signal IN2 may beset to a low level in the period 141.

At that time, in the logic circuit 151, the transistors 101 and 110 areon and the transistors 104 and 107 are off. A potential of the node 121and a potential of the node 124 are raised in accordance with the signalIN1 and come to be equal to the voltage V_(H). In addition, thetransistor 102 is turned on and a voltage of the signal OUT1 a isincreased, in accordance with the potential of the node 121. At thattime, a voltage of the signal OUT1 a is increased by the capacitor 103in accordance with the potential of the node 121 and comes to be equalto the voltage V_(H). This is so-called bootstrap operation. A potentialof the node 124 is raised in accordance with a voltage of the signalIN1, so that the potential of the node 124 comes to be equal to thevoltage V_(H). The transistor 111 is turned on and a voltage of thesignal OUT1 b comes to be the voltage V_(L), in accordance with thepotential of the node 124. At that time, a voltage corresponding to apotential of the node 122 and the low power supply voltage is applied tothe capacitor 106 and the potential of the node 122 is held by thecapacitor 106 for a certain period. In addition, a voltage correspondingto a potential of the node 124 and the low power supply voltage isapplied to the capacitor 112 and the potential of the node 124 is heldby the capacitor 112 for a certain period. In the case where an offcurrent does not flow through the transistors 104 and 110, the voltageheld in the capacitors 106 and 112 is maintained to be a value within acertain range; therefore, by using a transistor with a small offcurrent, such as the transistor which can be applied to the logiccircuit of this embodiment, the potential of the node 122 and thepotential of the node 124 at the time when the transistor is off can bemaintained to be values within a certain range.

Then, in a period 143, the signal CK1 is set to a low level at a timeA3, the signal CK2 remains at a low level, the signal IN1 is set to alow level, and the signal IN2 is set to a high level.

At that time, in the logic circuit 151, the transistors 101, 104, 107,and 110 are turned off. The potential of the node 121 is held to be thesame value as the voltage V_(H), the potential of the node 122 is heldto be the voltage V_(L), the potential of the node 123 is held to be thevoltage V_(L), the potential of the node 124 is held to be the voltageV_(H), the signal OUT1 a remains at a high level, and the signal OUT1 bremains at a low level.

Then, in a period 144, the signal CK1 remains at a low level, the signalCK2 is set to a high level at a time A4, the signal IN1 remains at a lowlevel, and the signal IN2 remains at a high level. Note that the signalIN1 may be set to a low level and the signal IN2 may be set to a highlevel, at the time A3.

At that time, the logic circuit 151 maintains the state in the period143; thus, the signal OUT1 a remains at a high level and the signal OUT1b remains at a low level.

Then, in a period 145, the signal CK1 remains at a low level, the signalCK2 is set to a low level at a time A5, the signal IN1 remains at a lowlevel, and the signal IN2 remains at a high level.

At that time, the logic circuit 151 maintains the state in the period144; thus, the signal OUT1 a remains at a high level and the signal OUT1b remains at a low level.

Then, in a period 146, the signal CK1 is set to a high level at a timeA6, the signal CK2 remains at a low level, the signal IN1 remains at alow level, and the signal IN2 remains at a high level.

At that time, in the logic circuit 151, the transistors 101, 104, 107,and 110 are turned on, so that the potential of the node 121 and thepotential of the node 124 come to be equal to the voltage V_(L). Inaddition, the transistors 102 and 111 are turned off in accordance withthe potential of the node 121 and the potential of the node 124.Further, the potential of the node 122 and the potential of the node 123are raised and come to be equal to the voltage V_(H). In addition, thetransistors 105 and 111 are turned on in accordance with the potentialof the node 122 and the potential of the node 123, and a voltage of thesignal OUT1 a comes to be the voltage V_(L) and a voltage of the signalOUT1 b comes to be the voltage V_(H). At that time, a voltagecorresponding to a potential of the node 122 and the low power supplyvoltage is applied to the capacitor 106 and the potential of the node122 is held by the capacitor 106 for a certain period. In addition, avoltage corresponding to a potential of the node 124 and the low powersupply voltage is applied to the capacitor 112 and the potential of thenode 124 is held by the capacitor 112 for a certain period. In the casewhere an off current does not flow through the transistors 104 and 110,the voltage held in the capacitors 106 and 112 is maintained to be avalue within a certain range; therefore, by using a transistor with asmall off current, such as the transistor which can be applied to thelogic circuit of this embodiment, the potential of the node 122 and thepotential of the node 124 at the time when the transistor is off can bemaintained to be values within a certain range.

In a subsequent period, the logic circuit 151 maintains in the samestate for a certain period, so that the voltage of the signal OUT1 a isheld at a low level for a certain period and the voltage of the signalOUT1 b is held at a high level for a certain period.

In addition, the logic circuits (here, e.g., the logic circuits 152 and153) in stages following the stage of the logic circuit 151 aredescribed. Note that operation in each of the logic circuits is the sameas that of the logic circuit 151 except states of input signals andoutput signals and thus, description thereof is omitted.

First, in the logic circuit 152, in the period 144, the signal OUT2 awhich is an output signal is set to a high level at the time A4, and thesignal OUT2 b remains at a low level.

In the periods 145 to 147, the logic circuit 152 maintains in the samestate as that in the period 144, so that the signal OUT2 a remains at ahigh level and the signal OUT2 b remains at a low level.

In a period 148, in the logic circuit 152, the signal OUT2 a is set to alow level and the signal OUT2 b is set to a high level, at a time A8.

In the logic circuit 153, in the period 146, the signal OUT2 a which isan output signal is set to a high level at a time A6, and the signalOUT2 b remains at a low level.

In the periods 147 to 149, the logic circuit 153 maintains in the samestate as that in the period 146, so that the signal OUT3 a remains at ahigh level and the signal OUT3 b remains at a low level.

Then, in the period 150, in the logic circuit 152, the signal OUT3 a isset to a low level and the signal OUT3 b is set to a high level, at atime A10.

Although not illustrated, even in the case where the shift registerincludes logic circuits of three or more stages, voltage states ofoutput signals are sequentially changed in the logic circuits of thestages.

As described above, the shift register of this embodiment can outputoutput signals in two different voltage states from the logic circuitsof the stages. In addition, the shift register of this embodimentincludes a storage capacitor to hold a gate potential of a transistor,which is for setting the output signal at a high level or a low level,for a certain period, and a transistor in which an off current is smalland which includes an oxide semiconductor layer for a channel formationlayer is used. With the above structure, since a leakage current througha transistor is reduced, a voltage held in the storage capacitor can bemaintained to be a value within a certain range for a certain period.Accordingly, malfunction can be suppressed. In addition, reduction inleakage current due to the transistor leads to reduction in powerconsumption. Further, in a transistor including an oxide semiconductorlayer as a channel formation layer, the impurity concentration of theoxide semiconductor layer is low; thus, variation in threshold voltageis small. In general, if in a shift register including a plurality ofshift registers, threshold voltages of the transistors varysignificantly, a voltage to turn on all of the transistors is high. Byusing such a transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer as achannel formation layer for the shift register of this embodiment, powerconsumption can be reduced.

Further, this embodiment describes a semiconductor device formed usingthe shift register which is an embodiment of the present invention for adriver circuit. Note that in this embodiment, a display device isdescribed in which at least part of the driver circuit and a pixelportion including a pixel whose display state is controlled by thedriver circuit are provided over one substrate, as an example.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example of a block diagram of an active matrixdisplay device. Over a substrate 5300 in the display device, a pixelportion 5301, a first scan line driver circuit 5302, a second scan linedriver circuit 5303, and a signal line driver circuit 5304 are provided.In the pixel portion 5301, a plurality of signal lines which areextended from the signal line driver circuit 5304 are provided and aplurality of scan lines which are extended from the first scan linedriver circuit 5302 and the second scan line driver circuit 5303 areprovided. Note that pixels each including a display element are providedin matrix in regions where the scan lines and the signal lines intersectwith each other. The substrate 5300 of the display device is connectedto a timing control circuit 5305 (also referred to as a controller or acontrol IC) through a connection portion such as a flexible printedcircuit (FPC).

In FIG. 4A, the first scan line driver circuit 5302, the second scanline driver circuit 5303, and the signal line driver circuit 5304 areformed over the substrate 5300 provided with the pixel portion 5301.Accordingly, the number of components of a driver circuit and the likewhich are provided outside are reduced, so that reduction in cost can beachieved. Further, if the driver circuit is provided outside thesubstrate 5300, wirings would need to be extended and the number ofconnections of wirings would be increased, but by providing the drivercircuit over the substrate 5300, the number of connections of thewirings can be reduced. Accordingly, improvement in reliability andyield can be achieved.

Note that as an example, the timing control circuit 5305 supplies afirst scan line driver circuit start signal (GSP1) and a first scan linedriver circuit clock signal (GCK1) to the first scan line driver circuit5302. The timing control circuit 5305 supplies, for example, a secondscan line driver circuit start signal (GSP2) (also referred to as astart pulse) and a scan line driver circuit clock signal (GCK2) to thesecond scan line driver circuit 5303. The timing control circuit 5305supplies a signal line driver circuit start signal (SSP), a signal linedriver circuit clock signal (SCK), video signal data (DATA) (also simplyreferred to as a video signal), and a latch signal (LAT) to the signalline driver circuit 5304, as an example. Each clock signal may be aplurality of clock signals with shifted phases or may be suppliedtogether with a signal (CKB) obtained by inverting the clock signal. Thenumber of each of the first scan line driver circuit start signal, thesecond scan line driver circuit start signal, the scan line drivercircuit clock signal, the signal line driver circuit start signal, andthe signal line driver circuit clock signal may be plural. In thesemiconductor device of this embodiment, one of the first scan linedriver circuit 5302 and the second scan line driver circuit 5303 can beomitted.

FIG. 4B illustrates a structure in which circuits each with a low drivefrequency (e.g., the first scan line driver circuit 5302 and the secondscan line driver circuit 5303) are formed over the substrate 5300provided with the pixel portion 5301, and the signal line driver circuit5304 is formed over another substrate which is different from thesubstrate provided with the pixel portion 5301. With this structure, adriver circuit formed over the substrate 5300 can be formed using a thinfilm transistor with lower field-effect mobility than that of atransistor formed using a single crystal semiconductor. Accordingly,increase in size of the display device, reduction in the number ofsteps, reduction in cost, improvement in yield, or the like can beachieved.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate an example of a structure and operation of asignal line driver circuit including n-channel TFTs.

The signal line driver circuit illustrated in FIG. 5A includes a shiftregister 5601 and a switching circuit 5602. The switching circuit 5602includes a plurality of switching circuits 5602_1 to 5602_N (N is anatural number greater than or equal to 2). The switching circuits5602_1 to 5602_N each include a plurality of thin film transistors5603_1 to 5603 k (k is a natural number greater than or equal to 2).Here, an example where the thin film transistors 5603_1 to 5603_k aren-channel TFTs is described.

A connection relation of the signal line driver circuit is describedusing the switching circuit 5602_1 as an example. One of sources anddrains of the thin film transistors 5603_1 to 5603_k are electricallyconnected to wirings 5604_1 to 5604_k, respectively. The other of thesources and the drains of the thin film transistors 5603_1 to 5603_k areelectrically connected to the signal lines S1 to Sk, respectively. Gatesof the thin film transistors 5603_1 to 5603_k are electrically connectedto a wiring 5605_1.

The shift register 5601 has a function of sequentially selecting theswitching circuits 5602_1 to 5602_N by sequentially outputtinghigh-level signals to wirings 5605_1 to 5605_N.

The switching circuit 5602_1 has a function of controlling conductionstates between the wirings 5604_1 to 5604_k and the signal lines S1 toSk, respectively, that is, a function of controlling whether potentialsof the wirings 5604_1 to 5604_k are supplied to the signal lines S1 toSk, respectively. Thus, the switching circuit 5602_1 has a function of aselector. Moreover, the thin film transistors 5603_1 to 5603_k havefunctions of controlling conduction states between the wirings 5604_1 to5604_k and the signal lines S1 to Sk, respectively, that is, functionsof controlling whether potentials of the wirings 5604_1 to 5604_k aresupplied to the signal lines S1 to Sk, respectively. In this manner,each of the thin film transistors 5603_1 to 5603_k functions as aswitch.

Note that video signal data (DATA) is input to each of the wirings5604_1 to 5604_k. The video signal data (DATA) is an analog signalcorresponding to image data or image signals in many cases.

Next, operation of the signal line driver circuit in FIG. 5A isdescribed with reference to a timing chart of FIG. 5B. In FIG. 5B, anexample of signals Sout_1 to Sout_N and signals Vdata_1 to Vdata_k isillustrated. The signals Sout_1 to Sout_N are an example of outputsignals of the shift register 5601, and the signals Vdata_1 to Vdata_kare an example of signals which are input to the wirings 5604_1 to5604_k. Note that one operation period of the signal line driver circuitcorresponds to one gate selection period in a display device. Forexample, one gate selection period is divided into periods T1 to TN. Theperiods T1 to TN are periods for writing video signal data (DATA) topixels which belong to a selected row.

In the periods T1 to TN, the shift register 5601 sequentially outputshigh-level signals to the wirings 5605_1 to 5605_N. For example, in theperiod T1, the shift register 5601 outputs an H level signal to thewiring 5605_1. Then, the thin film transistors 5603_1 to 5603_k areturned on, so that the wirings 5604_1 to 5604_k and the signal lines S1to Sk are electrically connected. At that time, Data (S1) to Data (Sk)are input to the wirings 5604_1 to 5604_k, respectively. The Data (S1)to Data (Sk) are input to pixels in a selected row in first to k-thcolumns through the thin film transistors 5603_1 to 5603_k,respectively. Thus, in the periods T1 to TN, video signal data (DATA) issequentially written to the pixels in the selected row every k columns.

By thus writing video signal data (DATA) to pixels every plural columns,the number of video signal data (DATA) or the number of wirings can bereduced. Accordingly, connections to an external circuit can be reduced.By writing video signals to pixels every plural columns, writing timecan be extended and insufficient writing of video signals can beprevented.

Note that the shift register which is an embodiment of the presentinvention can be used as the shift register 5601.

Next, a configuration of a scan line driver circuit is described. Thescan line driver circuit includes a shift register. In addition, thescan line driver circuit may include a level shifter, a buffer, or thelike in some cases. In the scan line driver circuit, a selection signalis generated by the shift register. The generated selection signal isbuffered and amplified by the buffer, and the resulting signal issupplied to a corresponding scan line. Gates of the transistors inpixels of one line are electrically connected to the scan line. Sincethe transistors in the pixels of one line have to be turned on all atonce, a buffer which can supply a large current is used.

As described above, the shift register which is an embodiment of thepresent invention can be applied to a driver circuit of a semiconductordevice. By using the shift register which is an embodiment of thepresent invention, a display period of a unit image can be extended;thus, power consumption can be reduced in the case where a still imageis displayed, for example.

Embodiment 2

In this embodiment, an example of thin film transistors which can beapplied to transistors included in the logic circuit and thesemiconductor device disclosed in this specification.

One embodiment of a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method ofthe semiconductor device of this embodiment is described with referenceto FIGS. 31A and 31B and FIGS. 6A to 6E.

FIGS. 31A and 31B illustrate an example of a planar structure and across-sectional structure of a semiconductor device. A thin filmtransistor 410 illustrated in FIGS. 31A and 31B is one of top gate thinfilm transistors.

FIG. 31A is a plan view of the thin film transistor 410 having atop-gate structure and FIG. 31B is a cross-sectional view taken alongC1-C2 in FIG. 31A.

The thin film transistor 410 includes, over a substrate 400, aninsulating layer 407, an oxide semiconductor layer 412, a source ordrain electrode layer 415 a, a source or drain electrode layer 415 b, agate insulating layer 402, and a gate electrode layer 411. A wiringlayer 414 a and a wiring layer 414 b are provided so as to be in contactwith and electrically connected to the source or drain electrode layer415 a and the source or drain electrode layer 415 b, respectively.

Although description is given using a single-gate thin film transistoras the thin film transistors 410, a multi-gate thin film transistorincluding a plurality of channel formation regions may be formed asneeded.

A process of manufacturing the thin film transistor 410 over a substrate400 is described below with reference to FIGS. 6A to 6E.

There is no particular limitation on a substrate that can be used as thesubstrate 400 having an insulating surface as long as it has at leastheat resistance to withstand heat treatment performed later. A glasssubstrate formed using barium borosilicate glass, aluminoborosilicateglass, or the like can be used.

When the temperature of the heat treatment performed later is high, asubstrate having a strain point of 730° C. or higher is preferably usedas the glass substrate. As a material of the glass substrate, a glassmaterial such as aluminosilicate glass, aluminoborosilicate glass, orbarium borosilicate glass is used, for example. Note that by containingbarium oxide (BaO) and boron oxide (B203) so that the amount of BaO islarger than that of B203, a glass substrate is heat-resistant and ofmore practical use. Therefore, a glass substrate containing BaO thanB203 so that the amount of BaO is larger than that of B203 is preferablyused.

Note that, instead of the glass substrate described above, a substrateformed using an insulator, such as a ceramic substrate, a quartzsubstrate, or a sapphire substrate, may be used as the substrate 400.Alternatively, a crystallized glass substrate or the like may be used.Still alternatively, a plastic substrate or the like can be used asappropriate.

First, the insulating layer 407 which serves as a base film is formedover the substrate 400 having an insulating surface. As the insulatinglayer 407 in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer, an oxideinsulating layer such as a silicon oxide layer, a silicon oxynitridelayer, an aluminum oxide layer, or an aluminum oxynitride layer ispreferably used. Although a plasma CVD method, a sputtering method, orthe like can be employed as a method for forming the insulating layer407, the insulating layer 407 is preferably formed with a sputteringmethod so that hydrogen is contained in the insulating layer 407 aslittle as possible.

In this embodiment, a silicon oxide layer is formed as the insulatinglayer 407 with a sputtering method. The substrate 400 is transferred toa treatment chamber and a sputtering gas from which hydrogen andmoisture are removed and which contains high-purity oxygen isintroduced, whereby a silicon oxide layer is formed as the insulatinglayer 407 over the substrate 400 with the use of a silicon target. Thesubstrate 400 may be at a room temperature or may be heated.

For example, a silicon oxide film is formed with an RF sputtering methodunder the following condition: quartz (preferably, synthetic quartz) isused as a target; the substrate temperature is 108° C.; the distancebetween the substrate and the target (the T-S distance) is 60 mm; thepressure is 0.4 Pa; the high frequency power is 1.5 kW; and theatmosphere is an atmosphere containing oxygen and argon (the flow ratioof oxygen to argon is 1:1 (each flow rate is 25 sccm). The thickness ofthe silicon oxide film is 100 nm. Note that instead of quartz(preferably, synthetic quartz), a silicon target can be used as a targetused when the silicon oxide film is formed. As a sputtering gas, oxygenor a mixed gas of oxygen and argon is used.

In that case, the insulating layer 407 is preferably formed removingmoisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is for preventinghydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being contained in theinsulating layer 407.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theinsulating layer 407 formed in the deposition chamber can be reduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the insulating layer 407 is formed.

Examples of a sputtering method include an RF sputtering method in whicha high-frequency power source is used as a sputtering power source, a DCsputtering method in which a DC power source is used, and a pulsed DCsputtering method in which a bias is applied in a pulsed manner. An RFsputtering method is mainly used in the case where an insulating film isformed, and a DC sputtering method is mainly used in the case where ametal film is formed.

In addition, there is also a multi-source sputtering apparatus in whicha plurality of targets of different materials can be set. With themulti-source sputtering apparatus, films of different materials can beformed to be stacked in the same chamber, or plural kinds of materialscan be discharged for film formation at the same time in the samechamber.

In addition, there are a sputtering apparatus provided with a magnetsystem inside the chamber, which is for a magnetron sputtering method,and a sputtering apparatus which is used for an ECR sputtering method inwhich plasma produced with the use of microwaves is used without usingglow discharge.

Furthermore, as a deposition method using a sputtering method, there arealso a reactive sputtering method in which a target substance and asputtering gas component are chemically reacted with each other duringdeposition to form a thin compound film thereof, and a bias sputteringmethod in which voltage is also applied to a substrate duringdeposition.

Further, the insulating layer 407 may have a layered structure in whichfor example, a nitride insulating layer such as a silicon nitride layer,a silicon nitride oxide layer, an aluminum nitride layer, or an aluminumnitride oxide layer and an oxide insulating layer are stacked in thisorder from the substrate 400 side.

For example, a high-purity sputtering gas from which hydrogen andmoisture are removed and which contains nitrogen is introduced and asilicon target is used, whereby a silicon nitride layer is formedbetween a silicon oxide layer and a substrate. In this case, the siliconnitride layer is preferably formed removing moisture remaining in atreatment chamber, similarly to the silicon oxide layer.

In the case of forming the silicon nitride layer, a substrate may beheated in film formation.

In the case where the stack of the silicon nitride layer and the siliconoxide layer is provided as the insulating layer 407, the silicon nitridelayer and the silicon oxide layer can be formed with the use of a commonsilicon target in the same treatment chamber. After an etching gascontaining nitrogen is introduced first, a silicon nitride layer isformed using a silicon target mounted in the treatment chamber, andthen, the etching gas is switched to an etching gas containing oxygenand the same silicon target is used to form a silicon oxide layer. Sincethe silicon nitride layer and the silicon oxide layer can be formedsuccessively without being exposed to the air, impurities such ashydrogen and moisture can be prevented from adsorbing onto a surface ofthe silicon nitride layer.

Then, an oxide semiconductor film is formed to a thickness of 2 nm to200 nm inclusive over the insulating layer 407.

Further, in order that hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture becontained in the oxide semiconductor film as little as possible, it ispreferable that the substrate 400 over which the insulating layer 407 isformed be preheated in a preheating chamber of a sputtering apparatus aspretreatment for film formation so that impurities such as hydrogen andmoisture adsorbed to the substrate 400 are eliminated. Note that acryopump is preferable as an evacuation unit provided in the preheatingchamber. Note that this preheating treatment may be omitted. Further,this preheating may be similarly performed on the substrate 400 overwhich the gate insulating layer 402 has not been formed and thesubstrate 400 over which layers up to the source or drain electrodelayer 415 a and the source or drain electrode layer 415 b have beenformed.

Note that before the oxide semiconductor film is formed with asputtering method, dust attached to a surface of the insulating layer407 is preferably removed with reverse sputtering in which an argon gasis introduced and plasma is generated. The reverse sputtering refers toa method in which without application of a voltage to the target side, ahigh frequency power source is used for application of a voltage to thesubstrate side in an argon atmosphere so that plasma is generated tomodify a surface of the substrate. Note that instead of an argonatmosphere, a nitrogen atmosphere, a helium atmosphere, an oxygenatmosphere, or the like may be used.

The oxide semiconductor film is formed with a sputtering method. Theoxide semiconductor film is formed using an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, an In—Sn—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, anIn—Al—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, a Sn—Ga—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, an Al—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, aSn—Al—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, an In—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, a Sn—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, anAl—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, an In—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, a Sn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, or aZn—O-based oxide semiconductor film. In this embodiment, the oxidesemiconductor film is formed with a sputtering method with the use of anIn—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film formation target. Further, theoxide semiconductor film can be formed with a sputtering method in arare gas (typically, argon) atmosphere, an oxygen atmosphere, or a mixedatmosphere containing a rare gas (typically, argon) and oxygen. In thecase of employing a sputtering method, a target containing SiO₂ at 2 wt% to 10 wt % inclusive may be used for film formation.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide semiconductor film is formed.

As a target for forming the oxide semiconductor film with a sputteringmethod, a metal oxide target containing zinc oxide as its main componentcan be used. As another example of a metal oxide target, an oxidesemiconductor film formation target containing In, Ga, and Zn (in acomposition ratio, In₂O₃:Ga₂O₃:ZnO=1:1:1 [mol %], In:Ga:Zn=1:1:0.5[atomic %]) can be used. Alternatively, an oxide semiconductor filmformation target containing In, Ga, and Zn (the composition ratio ofIn:Ga:Zn=1:1:1 or 1:1:2 [atomic %]) may be used. The proportion of thevolume of a portion except for an area occupied by a space and the likewith respect to the total volume of the oxide semiconductor filmformation target formed (also referred to as the fill rate of the oxidesemiconductor film formation target) is 90% to 100% inclusive,preferably, 95% to 99.9% inclusive. With the use of the oxidesemiconductor film formation target with high fill rate, a dense oxidesemiconductor film is formed.

The substrate is held in a treatment chamber kept under reducedpressure, a sputtering gas from which hydrogen and moisture are removedis introduced into the treatment chamber from which remaining moistureis being removed, and the oxide semiconductor film is formed over thesubstrate 400 with the use of a metal oxide as a target. To removemoisture remaining in the treatment chamber, an entrapment vacuum pumpis preferably used. For example, a cryopump, an ion pump, or a titaniumsublimation pump is preferably used. Further, an evacuation unit may bea turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In the deposition chamber whichis evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogen atom, a compound containing ahydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), (more preferably, also a compoundcontaining a carbon atom), and the like are removed, whereby theconcentration of an impurity in the oxide semiconductor film formed inthe deposition chamber can be reduced. The substrate may be heated whenthe oxide semiconductor film is formed.

An example of the deposition condition is as follows: the substratetemperature is room temperature, the distance between the substrate andthe target is 60 mm, the pressure is 0.4 Pa, the DC power is 0.5 kW, andthe atmosphere is an atmosphere containing oxygen and argon (the flowratio of oxygen to argon is 15 sccm:30 sccm). It is preferable that apulsed DC power source be used because powder substances (also referredto as particles or dust) generated in film formation can be reduced andthe film thickness can be uniform. The oxide semiconductor filmpreferably has a thickness of 5 nm to 30 nm inclusive. Note that theappropriate thickness depends on an oxide semiconductor material usedand the thickness may be selected in accordance with a material.

Then, in a first photolithography process, the oxide semiconductor filmis processed into an island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer 412 (seeFIG. 6A). A resist mask for forming the island-shaped oxidesemiconductor layer 412 may be formed with an ink-jet method. When theresist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, a photomask is not used;therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Note that the etching of the oxide semiconductor film may be dryetching, wet etching, or both dry etching and wet etching.

As the etching gas for dry etching, a gas containing chlorine(chlorine-based gas such as chlorine (Cl₂), boron chloride (BCl₃),silicon chloride (SiCl₄), or carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)) is preferablyused.

Alternatively, a gas containing fluorine (fluorine-based gas such ascarbon tetrafluoride (CF₄), sulfur fluoride (SF₆), nitrogen fluoride(NF₃), or trifluoromethane (CHF₃)); hydrogen bromide (HBr); oxygen (O₂);any of these gases to which a rare gas such as helium (He) or argon (Ar)is added; or the like can be used.

As the dry etching method, a parallel plate RIE (reactive ion etching)method or an ICP (inductively coupled plasma) etching method can beused. In order to etch the film into a desired shape, the etchingcondition (the amount of electric power applied to a coil-shapedelectrode, the amount of electric power applied to an electrode on thesubstrate side, the temperature of the electrode on the substrate side,or the like) is adjusted as appropriate.

As an etchant used for wet etching, a mixed solution of phosphoric acid,acetic acid, and nitric acid, or the like can be used. Alternatively,ITO07N (produced by KANTO CHEMICAL CO., INC.) may be used.

The etchant used in the wet etching is removed by cleaning together withthe material which is etched off. The waste liquid including the etchantand the material etched off may be purified and the material may bereused. When a material such as indium included in the oxidesemiconductor layer is collected from the waste liquid after the etchingand reused, the resources can be efficiently used and the cost can bereduced.

The etching conditions (such as an etchant, etching time, andtemperature) are appropriately adjusted depending on the material sothat the oxide semiconductor film can be etched to have a desired shape.

In this embodiment, the oxide semiconductor film is processed into theisland-shaped oxide semiconductor layer 412 with a wet etching methodwith a mixed solution of phosphoric acid, acetic acid, and nitric acidas an etchant.

In this embodiment, the oxide semiconductor layer 412 is subjected tofirst heat treatment. The temperature of the first heat treatment ishigher than or equal to 400° C. and lower than or equal to 750° C.,preferably higher than or equal to 400° C. and lower than the strainpoint of the substrate. Here, the substrate is introduced into anelectric furnace which is one of heat treatment apparatuses, heattreatment is performed on the oxide semiconductor layer in a nitrogenatmosphere at 450° C. for one hour, and then, the oxide semiconductorlayer is not exposed to the air so that entry of water and hydrogen intothe oxide semiconductor layer is prevented; thus, the oxidesemiconductor layer is obtained. Through the first heat treatment,dehydration or dehydrogenation of the oxide semiconductor layer 412 canbe conducted.

The apparatus for the heat treatment is not limited to the electricfurnace and may be the one provided with a device for heating an objectto be processed, using heat conduction or heat radiation from a heatingelement such as a resistance heating element. For example, an RTA (rapidthermal anneal) apparatus such as a GRTA (gas rapid thermal anneal)apparatus or an LRTA (lamp rapid thermal anneal) apparatus can be used.An LRTA apparatus is an apparatus for heating an object to be processedby radiation of light (an electromagnetic wave) emitted from a lamp suchas a halogen lamp, a metal halide lamp, a xenon arc lamp, a carbon arclamp, a high pressure sodium lamp, or a high pressure mercury lamp. AGRTA apparatus is an apparatus for heat treatment using ahigh-temperature gas. As the gas, an inert gas which hardly reacts withan object to be processed due to heat treatment, such as nitrogen or arare gas such as argon is used.

For example, as the first heat treatment, GRTA may be performed asfollows. The substrate is transferred and put in an inert gas which hasbeen heated to a high temperature of 650° C. to 700° C., heated forseveral minutes, and transferred and taken out of the inert gas whichhas been heated to a high temperature. GRTA enables high-temperatureheat treatment in a short time.

Note that in the first heat treatment, it is preferable that water,hydrogen, and the like be not included in nitrogen or a rare gas such ashelium, neon, or argon. Alternatively, it is preferable that nitrogen ora rare gas such as helium, neon, or argon introduced into an apparatusfor the heat treatment have a purity of 6N (99.9999%) or more,preferably, 7N (99.99999%) or more (that is, an impurity concentrationis set to 1 ppm or lower, preferably, 0.1 ppm or lower).

Further, the oxide semiconductor layer might be crystallized to be amicrocrystalline film or a polycrystalline film depending on a conditionof the first heat treatment or a material of the oxide semiconductorlayer. For example, the oxide semiconductor layer may be crystallized tobecome a microcrystalline oxide semiconductor film having a degree ofcrystallization of 90% or more, or 80% or more. Further, depending onthe condition of the first heat treatment and the material of the oxidesemiconductor layer, the oxide semiconductor layer may become anamorphous oxide semiconductor film containing no crystalline component.The oxide semiconductor layer might become an oxide semiconductor filmin which a microcrystalline portion (with a grain diameter greater thanor equal to 1 nm and less than or equal to 20 nm, typically greater thanor equal to 2 nm and less than or equal to 4 nm) is mixed into anamorphous oxide semiconductor.

Alternatively, the first heat treatment of the oxide semiconductor layermay be performed on the oxide semiconductor film which has not yet beenprocessed into the island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer. In thatcase, after the first heat treatment, the substrate is taken out of theheating apparatus and a photolithography process is performed.

The heat treatment having an effect of dehydration or dehydrogenation onthe oxide semiconductor layer may be performed at any of the followingtimings: after the oxide semiconductor layer is formed; after a sourceelectrode layer and a drain electrode layer are formed over the oxidesemiconductor layer; and after a gate insulating layer is formed overthe source electrode layer and the drain electrode layer.

Next, a conductive film is formed over the insulating layer 407 and theoxide semiconductor layer 412. The conductive film may be formed with,for example, a sputtering method or a vacuum evaporation method. As thematerial of the conductive film, there are an element selected from Al,Cr, Cu, Ta, Ti, Mo, or W; an alloy including any of the above elements;an alloy film containing a combination of any of these elements; and thelike. Further, one or more materials selected from manganese, magnesium,zirconium, beryllium, and thorium may be used. The conductive film mayhave a single-layer structure or a layered structure of two or morelayers. For example, a single-layer structure of an aluminum filmincluding silicon, a two-layer structure in which a titanium film isstacked over an aluminum film, a three-layer structure in which a Tifilm, an aluminum film, and a Ti film are stacked in the orderpresented, and the like can be given. Alternatively, a film, an alloyfilm, or a nitride film of a combination of Al and one or plurality ofelements selected from the followings may be used: titanium (Ti),tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr), neodymium(Nd), and scandium (Sc).

A second photolithography process is performed. A resist mask is formedover the conductive film and selective etching is performed, so that thesource or drain electrode layer 415 a and the source or drain electrodelayer 415 b are formed. Then, the resist mask is removed (see FIG. 6B).Note that the source electrode layer and the drain electrode layerpreferably have tapered shapes because coverage with the gate insulatinglayer stacked thereover can be improved.

In this embodiment, a titanium film is formed to a thickness of 150 nmwith a sputtering method for the source or drain electrode layer 415 aand the source or drain electrode layer 415 b.

Note that materials and etching conditions are adjusted as appropriateso that the oxide semiconductor layer 412 is not removed and theinsulating layer 407 under the oxide semiconductor layer 412 is notexposed when the conductive film is etched.

Note that in the second photolithography process, only part of the oxidesemiconductor layer 412 is etched, whereby an oxide semiconductor layerhaving a groove (a depressed portion) might be formed. The resist maskused for forming the source or drain electrode layer 415 a and thesource or drain electrode layer 415 b may be formed with an ink-jetmethod. When the resist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, aphotomask is not used; therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Ultraviolet, a KrF laser beam, or an ArF laser beam is used for lightexposure for forming the resist mask in the second photolithographyprocess. A channel length L of the thin film transistor to be formedlater depends on a width of an interval between a bottom portion of thesource electrode layer and a bottom portion of the drain electrode layerwhich are adjacent to each other over the oxide semiconductor layer 412.Note that when light exposure is performed in the case where the channellength L is shorter than 25 nm, extreme ultraviolet with extremely shortwavelengths of several nanometers to several tens of nanometers is usedfor light exposure for forming the resist mask in the secondphotolithography process. Light exposure with extreme ultraviolet leadsto a high resolution and a large depth of field. Accordingly, thechannel length L of the thin film transistor to be formed later can beset to 10 nm to 1000 nm inclusive. Thus, the operation speed of acircuit can be increased, and further, an off current can besignificantly small so that low power consumption can be achieved.

Next, a gate insulating layer 402 is formed over the insulating layer407, the oxide semiconductor layer 412, the source or drain electrodelayer 415 a, and the source or drain electrode layer 415 b (see FIG.6C).

The gate insulating layer 402 can be formed with a single-layerstructure or a layered structure using any of a silicon oxide layer, asilicon nitride layer, a silicon oxynitride layer, a silicon nitrideoxide layer, and an aluminum oxide layer with a plasma CVD method, asputtering method, or the like. Note that the gate insulating layer 402is preferably formed with a sputtering method so that the gateinsulating layer 402 contains hydrogen as little as possible. In thecase where a silicon oxide film is formed with a sputtering method, asilicon target or a quartz target is used as a target and a mixed gas ofoxygen and argon is used as a sputtering gas.

The gate insulating layer 402 may have a structure where a silicon oxidelayer and a silicon nitride layer are stacked from the side of thesource or drain electrode layer 415 a and the source or drain electrodelayer 415 b. For example, a silicon oxide layer (SiO_(x) (x>0)) with athickness of 5 nm to 300 nm inclusive is formed as a first gateinsulating layer and a silicon nitride layer (SiN_(y) (y>0)) with athickness of 50 nm to 200 nm inclusive is stacked as a second gateinsulating layer over the first gate insulating layer; thus, the gateinsulating layer with a thickness of 100 nm may be formed. In thisembodiment, a silicon oxide layer is formed to a thickness of 100 nmwith an RF sputtering method under the following condition: the pressureis 0.4 Pa; the high frequency power is 1.5 kW; and the atmosphere is anatmosphere containing oxygen and argon (the flow ratio of oxygen toargon is 1:1 (each flow rate is 25 sccm).

Then, a third photolithography process is performed. A resist mask isformed and selective etching is performed to remove parts of the gateinsulating layer 402, so that openings 421 a and 421 b reaching thesource or drain electrode layer 415 a and the source or drain electrodelayer 415 b, respectively, are formed (see FIG. 6D).

Then, after a conductive film is formed over the gate insulating layer402 and in the openings 421 a and 421 b, the gate electrode layer 411and the wiring layers 414 a and 414 b are formed in a fourthphotolithography process. Note that a resist mask may be formed with anink-jet method. When the resist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, aphotomask is not used; therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Further, the gate electrode layer 411 and the wiring layers 414 a and414 b can be formed with a single-layer structure or a layered structureusing any of metal materials such as molybdenum, titanium, chromium,tantalum, tungsten, aluminum, copper, neodymium, and scandium, and analloy material including any of these materials as a main component.

As a two-layer structure of each of the gate electrode layer 411 and thewiring layers 414 a and 414 b, for example, a two-layer structure inwhich a molybdenum layer is stacked over an aluminum layer, a two-layerstructure in which a molybdenum layer is stacked over a copper layer, atwo-layer structure in which a titanium nitride layer or a tantalumnitride layer is stacked over a copper layer, or a two-layer structurein which a titanium nitride layer and a molybdenum layer are stacked ispreferable. As a three-layer structure, a stack of a tungsten layer or atungsten nitride layer, an alloy layer of aluminum and silicon or analloy layer of aluminum and titanium, and a titanium nitride layer or atitanium layer is preferable. Note that the gate electrode layer may beformed using a light-transmitting conductive film. A light-transmittingconductive oxide can be given as an example of the light-transmittingconductive film.

In this embodiment, a titanium film is formed to a thickness of 150 nmwith a sputtering method for the gate electrode layer 411 and the wiringlayers 414 a and 414 b.

Next, second heat treatment (preferably 200° C. to 400° C. inclusive,for example, from 250° C. to 350° C. inclusive) is performed in an inertgas atmosphere or an oxygen gas atmosphere. In this embodiment, thesecond heat treatment is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 250° C.for one hour. The second heat treatment may be performed after aprotective insulating layer or a planarization insulating layer isformed over the thin film transistor 410.

Further, heat treatment may be performed at 100° C. to 200° C. inclusivefor one hour to 30 hours inclusive in the air. This heat treatment maybe performed at a fixed heating temperature. Alternatively, thefollowing change in the heating temperature may be conducted pluraltimes repeatedly: the heating temperature is increased from a roomtemperature to a temperature of 100° C. to 200° C. inclusive and thendecreased to a room temperature. Further, this heat treatment may beperformed under a reduced pressure before formation of the oxideinsulating layer. Under a reduced pressure, the heating time can beshortened.

Through the above steps, the thin film transistor 410 including theoxide semiconductor layer 412 in which the concentration of hydrogen,moisture, hydride, or hydroxide is reduced can be formed (see FIG. 6E).

A protective insulating layer or a planarization insulating layer forplanarization may be provided over the thin film transistor 410. Forexample, the protective insulating layer may be formed with asingle-layer structure or a layered structure using any of a siliconoxide layer, a silicon nitride layer, a silicon oxynitride layer, asilicon nitride oxide layer, and an aluminum oxide layer.

The planarization insulating layer can be formed using a heat-resistantorganic material such as polyimide, an acrylic resin, a benzocyclobuteneresin, polyamide, or an epoxy resin. Other than such organic materials,it is also possible to use a low-dielectric constant material (a low-kmaterial), a siloxane-based resin, PSG (phosphosilicate glass), BPSG(borophosphosilicate glass), or the like. Note that the planarizationinsulating layer may be formed by stacking a plurality of insulatingfilms formed using any of these materials.

Note that a siloxane-based resin corresponds to a resin including aSi—O—Si bond formed using a siloxane-based material as a startingmaterial. The siloxane-based resin may include an organic group (e.g.,an alkyl group or an aryl group) or a fluoro group as a substituent.Moreover, the organic group may include a fluoro group.

There is no particular limitation on the method of forming theplanarization insulating layer, and the following method or means can beemployed depending on the material: a method such as a sputteringmethod, an SOG method, a spin coating method, a dipping method, a spraycoating method, or a droplet discharge method (e.g., an ink-jet method,screen printing, or offset printing), or a tool such as a doctor knife,a roll coater, a curtain coater, or a knife coater.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Moisture remaining in a reaction atmosphere is removed as describedabove in forming the oxide semiconductor film, whereby the concentrationof hydrogen and hydride in the oxide semiconductor film can be reduced.Accordingly, the oxide semiconductor film can be stable.

Thus, the semiconductor device including the thin film transistor havingthe oxide semiconductor layer can have stable electric characteristicsand high reliability.

Embodiment 3

In this embodiment, another example of thin film transistors which canbe applied to transistors included in the logic circuit and thesemiconductor device disclosed in this specification. The same portionsas those in Embodiment 2 and portions having functions similar to thoseof the portions in Embodiment 2 and steps similar to those in Embodiment2 may be handled as in Embodiment 2, and repeated description isomitted. In addition, detailed description of the same portions is alsoomitted.

One embodiment of a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method ofthe semiconductor device of this embodiment is described with referenceto FIGS. 7A and 7B and FIGS. 8A to 8E.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate an example of a planar structure and across-sectional structure of a semiconductor device. A thin filmtransistor 460 illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B is one of top gate thinfilm transistors.

FIG. 7A is a plan view of the thin film transistor 460 having a top-gatestructure and FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view taken along D1-D2 inFIG. 7A.

The thin film transistor 460 includes, over a substrate 450 having aninsulating surface, an insulating layer 457, a source or drain electrodelayer 465 a (465 a 1 and 465 a 2), an oxide semiconductor layer 462, asource or drain electrode layer 465 b, a wiring layer 468, a gateinsulating layer 452, and a gate electrode layer 461 (461 a and 461 b).The source or drain electrode layer 465 a (465 a 1 and 465 a 2) iselectrically connected to a wiring layer 464 through the wiring layer468. Although not illustrated, the source or drain electrode layer 465 bis electrically connected to a wiring layer through an opening formed inthe gate insulating layer 452.

A process of manufacturing the thin film transistor 460 over thesubstrate 450 is described below with reference to FIGS. 8A to 8E.

First, the insulating layer 457 which serves as a base film is formedover the substrate 450.

In this embodiment, a silicon oxide layer is formed as the insulatinglayer 457 with a sputtering method. The substrate 450 is transferred toa treatment chamber and a high-purity sputtering gas from which hydrogenand moisture is removed and which contains oxygen is introduced, wherebya silicon oxide layer is formed as the insulating layer 457 over thesubstrate 450 with the use of a silicon target or a quartz (preferablysynthetic quartz). As a sputtering gas, oxygen or a mixed gas of oxygenand argon is used.

For example, a silicon oxide film is formed with an RF sputtering methodunder the following condition: the purity of a sputtering gas is 6N;quartz (preferably, synthetic quartz) is used; the substrate temperatureis 108° C.; the distance between the substrate and the target (the T-Sdistance) is 60 mm; the pressure is 0.4 Pa; the high frequency power is1.5 kW; and the atmosphere is an atmosphere containing oxygen and argon(the flow ratio of oxygen to argon is 1:1 (each flow rate is 25 sccm).The thickness of the silicon oxide film is 100 nm. Note that instead ofquartz (preferably, synthetic quartz), a silicon target can be used as atarget used when the silicon oxide film is formed.

In that case, the insulating layer 457 is preferably formed removingmoisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is for preventinghydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being contained in theinsulating layer 457. In the deposition chamber which is evacuated witha cryopump, a hydrogen atom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, suchas water (H₂O), and the like are removed, whereby the concentration ofan impurity in the insulating layer 457 formed in the deposition chambercan be reduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the insulating layer 457 is formed.

Further, the insulating layer 457 may have a layered structure in whichfor example, a nitride insulating layer such as a silicon nitride layer,a silicon nitride oxide layer, an aluminum nitride layer, or an aluminumnitride oxide layer and an oxide insulating layer are stacked in thisorder from the substrate 450 side.

For example, a high-purity sputtering gas from which hydrogen andmoisture are removed and which contains nitrogen is introduced and asilicon target is used, whereby a silicon nitride layer is formedbetween a silicon oxide layer and a substrate. In this case, the siliconnitride layer is preferably formed removing remaining moisture in atreatment chamber, similarly to the silicon oxide layer.

Next, a conductive film is formed over the insulating layer 457 and afirst photolithography process is performed. A resist mask is formedover the conductive film and selective etching is performed, so that thesource or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2 is formed. Then, theresist mask is removed (see FIG. 8A). It seems in cross section as ifthe source or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2 is divided;however, the source or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2 is acontinuous film. Note that the source electrode layer and the drainelectrode layer preferably have tapered shapes because coverage with thegate insulating layer stacked thereover can be improved.

As the material of the source or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and 465 a2, there are an element selected from Al, Cr, Cu, Ta, Ti, Mo, or W; analloy including any of the above elements; an alloy film containing acombination of any of these elements; and the like. Further, one or morematerials selected from manganese, magnesium, zirconium, beryllium, andthorium may be used. The conductive film may have a single-layerstructure or a layered structure of two or more layers. For example, asingle-layer structure of an aluminum film including silicon, atwo-layer structure in which a titanium film is stacked over an aluminumfilm, a three-layer structure in which a Ti film, an aluminum film, anda Ti film are stacked in the order presented, and the like can be given.Alternatively, a film, an alloy film, or a nitride film of a combinationof Al and one or plurality of elements selected from the followings maybe used: titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo),chromium (Cr), neodymium (Nd), and scandium (Sc).

In this embodiment, a titanium film is formed to a thickness of 150 nmwith a sputtering method for the source or drain electrode layer 465 a 1and 465 a 2.

Then, an oxide semiconductor film is formed to a thickness of 2 nm to200 nm inclusive over the gate insulating layer 452.

Then, an oxide semiconductor film is formed and in a secondphotolithography process, the oxide semiconductor film is processed intoan island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer 462 (see FIG. 8B). In thisembodiment, the oxide semiconductor film is formed with a sputteringmethod with the use of an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor filmformation target.

The substrate is held in a treatment chamber kept under reducedpressure, a sputtering gas from which hydrogen and moisture are removedis introduced into the treatment chamber from which remaining moistureis being removed, and the oxide semiconductor film is deposited over thesubstrate 450 with the use of a metal oxide as a target. To removemoisture remaining in the treatment chamber, an entrapment vacuum pumpis preferably used. For example, a cryopump, an ion pump, or a titaniumsublimation pump is preferably used. Further, an evacuation unit may bea turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In the deposition chamber whichis evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogen atom, a compound containing ahydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), (more preferably, also a compoundcontaining a carbon atom), and the like are removed, whereby theconcentration of an impurity in the oxide semiconductor film formed inthe deposition chamber can be reduced. The substrate may be heated whenthe oxide semiconductor film is formed.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide semiconductor film is formed.

An example of the deposition condition is as follows: the substratetemperature is room temperature, the distance between the substrate andthe target is 60 mm, the pressure is 0.4 Pa, the DC power is 0.5 kW, andthe atmosphere is an atmosphere containing oxygen and argon (the flowratio of oxygen to argon is 15 sccm:30 sccm). It is preferable that apulsed DC power source be used because powder substances (also referredto as particles or dust) generated in film formation can be reduced andthe film thickness can be uniform. The oxide semiconductor filmpreferably has a thickness of 5 nm to 30 nm inclusive. Note that theappropriate thickness depends on an oxide semiconductor material usedand the thickness may be selected in accordance with a material.

In this embodiment, the oxide semiconductor film is processed into theisland-shaped oxide semiconductor layer 462 with a wet etching methodwith a mixed solution of phosphoric acid, acetic acid, and nitric acidas an etchant.

Next, the oxide semiconductor layer 462 is subjected to first heattreatment. The temperature for the first heat treatment is higher thanor equal to 400° C. and lower than or equal to 750° C., preferablyhigher than or equal to 400° C. and lower than the strain point of thesubstrate. Here, the substrate is introduced into an electric furnacewhich is one of heat treatment apparatuses, heat treatment is performedon the oxide semiconductor layer in a nitrogen atmosphere at 450° C. forone hour, and then, the oxide semiconductor layer is not exposed to theair so that entry of water and hydrogen into the oxide semiconductorlayer is prevented; thus, the oxide semiconductor layer is obtained.Through the first heat treatment, dehydration or dehydrogenation of theoxide semiconductor layer 462 can be conducted.

The apparatus for the heat treatment is not limited to the electricfurnace and may be the one provided with a device for heating an objectto be processed, using heat conduction or heat radiation from a heatingelement such as a resistance heating element. For example, an RTA (rapidthermal anneal) apparatus such as a GRTA (gas rapid thermal anneal)apparatus or an LRTA (lamp rapid thermal anneal) apparatus can be used.For example, as the first heat treatment, GRTA may be performed asfollows. The substrate is transferred and put in an inert gas which hasbeen heated to a high temperature of 650° C. to 700° C., heated forseveral minutes, and transferred and taken out of the inert gas whichhas been heated to a high temperature. GRTA enables high-temperatureheat treatment in a short time.

Note that in the first heat treatment, it is preferable that water,hydrogen, and the like be not included in nitrogen or a rare gas such ashelium, neon, or argon. Alternatively, it is preferable that nitrogen ora rare gas such as helium, neon, or argon introduced into an apparatusfor the heat treatment have a purity of 6N (99.9999%) or more,preferably, 7N (99.99999%) or more (that is, an impurity concentrationis set to 1 ppm or lower, preferably, 0.1 ppm or lower).

Further, the oxide semiconductor layer might be crystallized to be amicrocrystalline film or a polycrystalline film depending on a conditionof the first heat treatment or a material of the oxide semiconductorlayer.

Alternatively, the first heat treatment of the oxide semiconductor layermay be performed on the oxide semiconductor film which has not yet beenprocessed into the island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer. In thatcase, after the first heat treatment, the substrate is taken out of theheating apparatus and a photolithography process is performed.

The heat treatment has an effect of dehydration or dehydrogenation onthe oxide semiconductor layer may be performed at any of the followingtimings: after the oxide semiconductor layer is formed; after a sourceelectrode layer and a drain electrode layer are formed over the oxidesemiconductor layer; and after a gate insulating layer is formed overthe source electrode layer and the drain electrode layer.

Next, a conductive film is formed over the insulating layer 457 and theoxide semiconductor layer 462 and a third photolithography process isperformed. A resist mask is formed over the conductive film andselective etching is performed, so that the source or drain electrodelayer 465 b and the wiring layer 468 are formed. Then, the resist maskis removed (see FIG. 8C). The source or drain electrode layer 465 b andthe wiring layer 468 may be formed using a material and steps similar tothose of the source or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2.

In this embodiment, a titanium film is formed to a thickness of 150 nmwith a sputtering method for the source or drain electrode layer 465 band the wiring layer 468. In this embodiment, the same titanium film isused for the source or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2 and thesource or drain electrode layer 465 b, so that the etching rate of thesource or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2 is the same as orsubstantially the same as that of the source or drain electrode layer465 b. Therefore, the wiring layer 468 is provided over a portion of thesource or drain electrode layer 465 a 2, which is not covered with theoxide semiconductor layer 462, to prevent the source or drain electrodelayer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2 from being etched when the source or drainelectrode layer 465 b is etched. In the case of using differentmaterials which provide high selectivity ratio of the source or drainelectrode layer 465 b to the source or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and465 a 2 in the etching step, the wiring layer 468 which protects thesource or drain electrode layer 465 a 2 in etching is not necessarilyprovided.

Note that materials and etching conditions are adjusted as appropriateso that the oxide semiconductor layer 462 is not removed when theconductive film is etched.

Note that in the third photolithography process, only part of the oxidesemiconductor layer 462 is etched, whereby an oxide semiconductor layerhaving a groove (a depressed portion) might be formed. The resist maskused for forming the source or drain electrode layer 465 b and thewiring layer 468 may be formed with an ink-jet method. When the resistmask is formed with an ink-jet method, a photomask is not used;therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Next, a gate insulating layer 452 is formed over the insulating layer457, the oxide semiconductor layer 462, the source or drain electrodelayer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2, the source or drain electrode layer 465 b,and the wiring layer 468.

The gate insulating layer 452 can be formed with a single-layerstructure or a layered structure using any of a silicon oxide layer, asilicon nitride layer, a silicon oxynitride layer, a silicon nitrideoxide layer, and an aluminum oxide layer with a plasma CVD method, asputtering method, or the like. Note that the gate insulating layer 452is preferably formed with a sputtering method so that the gateinsulating layer 452 contains hydrogen as little as possible. In thecase where a silicon oxide film is formed with a sputtering method, asilicon target or a quartz target is used as a target and a mixed gas ofoxygen and argon is used as a sputtering target.

The gate insulating layer 452 may have a structure where a silicon oxidelayer and a silicon nitride layer are stacked from the side of thesource or drain electrode layer 465 a 1 and 465 a 2 and the source ordrain electrode layer 465 b. In this embodiment, a silicon oxide layeris formed to a thickness of 100 nm with an RF sputtering method underthe following condition: the pressure is 0.4 Pa; the high frequencypower is 1.5 kW; and the atmosphere is an atmosphere containing oxygenand argon (the flow ratio of oxygen to argon is 1:1 (each flow rate is25 sccm).

Next, a fourth photolithography process is performed. A resist mask isformed and selective etching is performed to remove part of the gateinsulating layer 452, so that an opening 423 reaching a wiring layer 438is formed (see FIG. 8D). Although not illustrated, in forming theopening 423, an opening reaching the source or drain electrode layer 465b may be formed. In this embodiment, the opening reaching the source ordrain electrode layer 465 b is formed after an interlayer insulatinglayer is further stacked, and a wiring layer for electrical connectionis formed in the opening.

Then, after a conductive film is formed over the gate insulating layer452 and in the opening 423, the gate electrode layer 461 (461 a and 461b) and the wiring layer 464 are formed in a fifth photolithographyprocess. Note that a resist mask may be formed with an ink-jet method.When the resist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, a photomask isnot used; therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Further, the gate electrode layer 461 (461 a and 461 b) and the wiringlayer 464 can be formed with a single-layer structure or a layeredstructure using any of metal materials such as molybdenum, titanium,chromium, tantalum, tungsten, aluminum, copper, neodymium, and scandium,and an alloy material including any of these materials as a maincomponent.

In this embodiment, a titanium film is formed to a thickness of 150 nmwith a sputtering method for the gate electrode layer 461 (461 a and 461b) and the wiring layer 464.

Next, second heat treatment (preferably 200° C. to 400° C. inclusive,for example, from 250° C. to 350° C. inclusive) is performed in an inertgas atmosphere or an oxygen gas atmosphere. In this embodiment, thesecond heat treatment is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 250° C.for one hour. The second heat treatment may be performed after aprotective insulating layer or a planarization insulating layer isformed over the thin film transistor 410.

Further, heat treatment may be performed at 100° C. to 200° C. inclusivefor one hour to 30 hours inclusive in the air. This heat treatment maybe performed at a fixed heating temperature. Alternatively, thefollowing change in the heating temperature may be conducted pluraltimes repeatedly: the heating temperature is increased from a roomtemperature to a temperature of 100° C. to 200° C. inclusive and thendecreased to a room temperature. Further, this heat treatment may beperformed under a reduced pressure before formation of the oxideinsulating layer. Under a reduced pressure, the heating time can beshortened.

Through the above steps, the thin film transistor 460 including theoxide semiconductor layer 462 in which the concentration of hydrogen,moisture, hydride, or hydroxide is reduced can be formed (see FIG. 8E).

A protective insulating layer or a planarization insulating layer forplanarization may be provided over the thin film transistor 460.Although not illustrated, an opening reaching the source or drainelectrode layer 465 b may be formed. In this embodiment, the openingreaching the source or drain electrode layer 465 b is formed in the gateinsulating layer 452, the protective insulating layer, and theplanarization layer, and a wiring layer for electrical connection to thesource or drain electrode layer 465 b is formed in the opening.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Moisture remaining in a reaction atmosphere is removed as describedabove in forming the oxide semiconductor film, whereby the concentrationof hydrogen and hydride in the oxide semiconductor film can be reduced.Accordingly, the oxide semiconductor film can be stable.

Thus, the semiconductor device including the thin film transistor havingthe oxide semiconductor layer can have stable electric characteristicsand high reliability.

Embodiment 4

In this embodiment, another example of thin film transistors which canbe applied to transistors included in the logic circuit and thesemiconductor device disclosed in this specification. The same portionsas those in Embodiment 2 and portions having functions similar to thoseof the portions in Embodiment 2 and steps similar to those in Embodiment2 may be handled as in Embodiment 2, and repeated description isomitted. In addition, detailed description of the same portions is alsoomitted. Thin film transistors 425 and 426 described in this embodimentcan be used as thin film transistors included in the logic circuit andthe semiconductor device in Embodiment 1.

The thin film transistors of this embodiment are described withreference to FIGS. 9A and 9B.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate examples of cross-sectional structures of thethin film transistors. The thin film transistors 425 and 426 in FIGS. 9Aand 9B are each one of thin film transistors where an oxidesemiconductor layer is sandwiched between a conductive layer and a gateelectrode layer.

In addition, in FIGS. 9A and 9B, a silicon substrate is used as asubstrate and the thin film transistors 425 and 426 are provided over aninsulating layer 422 which is formed over a silicon substrate 420.

In FIG. 9A, a conductive layer 427 is formed between the insulatinglayer 422 and the insulating layer 407 over the silicon substrate 420 soas to overlap with at least the whole oxide semiconductor layer 412.

Note that FIG. 9B illustrates an example where the conductive layerbetween the insulating layer 422 and the insulating layer 407 isprocessed like the conductive layer 424 by etching and overlaps withpart of the oxide semiconductor layer 412, which includes at least achannel formation region.

The conductive layers 427 and 424 may each be formed using a metalmaterial which can resist temperature for heat treatment to be performedin a later step: an element selected from titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta),tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr), neodymium (Nd), andscandium (Sc), an alloy containing any of the above elements as itscomponent, an alloy film containing a combination of any of theseelements, a nitride containing any of the above elements as itscomponent, or the like. Further, the conductive layers 427 and 424 mayeach have either a single-layer structure or a layered structure, andfor example, a single layer of a tungsten layer or a stack of a tungstennitride layer and a tungsten layer can be used.

A potential of the conductive layers 427 and 424 may be the same as ordifferent from that of the gate electrode layer 411 of the thin filmtransistors 425 and 426. The conductive layers 427 and 424 can each alsofunction as a second gate electrode layer. The potential of theconductive layers 427 and 424 may be a fixed potential such as GND or 0V.

Electric characteristics of the thin film transistors 425 and 426 can becontrolled by the conductive layers 427 and 424.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Embodiment 5

In this embodiment, an example of thin film transistors which can beapplied to transistors included in the logic circuit and thesemiconductor device disclosed in this specification.

One embodiment of a thin film transistor and a manufacturing method ofthe thin film transistor of this embodiment is described with referenceto FIGS. 10A to 10E.

FIGS. 10A to 10E illustrate an example of a cross-sectional structure ofa thin film transistor. A thin film transistor 390 illustrated in FIGS.10A to 10E is one of bottom gate thin film transistors and is alsoreferred to as an inverted staggered thin film transistor.

Although description is given using a single-gate thin film transistoras the thin film transistor 390, a multi-gate thin film transistorincluding a plurality of channel formation regions may be formed asneeded.

A process of manufacturing the thin film transistor 390 over a substrate394 is described below with reference to FIGS. 10A to 10E.

First, after a conductive film is formed over the substrate 394 havingan insulating surface, a gate electrode layer 391 is formed in a firstphotolithography process. The gate electrode layer preferably has atapered shape because coverage with a gate insulating layer stackedthereover can be improved. Note that a resist mask may be formed with anink-jet method. When the resist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, aphotomask is not used; therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

There is no particular limitation on a substrate that can be used as thesubstrate 394 having an insulating surface as long as it has at leastheat resistance to withstand heat treatment performed later. A glasssubstrate formed using barium borosilicate glass, aluminoborosilicateglass, or the like can be used.

When the temperature of the heat treatment performed later is high, asubstrate having a strain point of 730° C. or higher is preferably usedas the glass substrate. As a material of the glass substrate, a glassmaterial such as aluminosilicate glass, aluminoborosilicate glass, orbarium borosilicate glass is used, for example. Note that in general, bycontaining a larger amount of barium oxide (BaO) than boron oxide, aglass substrate is heat-resistant and of more practical use. Therefore,a glass substrate containing a larger amount of BaO than B203 ispreferably used.

Note that, instead of the glass substrate described above, a substrateformed using an insulator such as a ceramic substrate, a quartzsubstrate, or a sapphire substrate may be used as the substrate 394.Alternatively, a crystallized glass substrate or the like may be used.Still alternatively, a plastic substrate or the like can be used asappropriate.

An insulating film serving as a base film may be provided between thesubstrate 394 and the gate electrode layer 391. The base film has afunction of preventing diffusion of an impurity element from thesubstrate 394, and can be formed with a single-layer structure or alayered structure using any of a silicon nitride film, a silicon oxidefilm, a silicon nitride oxide film, and a silicon oxynitride film.

Further, the gate electrode layer 391 can be formed with a single-layerstructure or a layered structure using any of metal materials such asmolybdenum, titanium, chromium, tantalum, tungsten, aluminum, copper,neodymium, and scandium, and an alloy material including any of thesematerials as a main component.

As a two-layer structure of the gate electrode layer 391, for example, atwo-layer structure in which a molybdenum layer is stacked over analuminum layer, a two-layer structure in which a molybdenum layer isstacked over a copper layer, a two-layer structure in which a titaniumnitride layer or a tantalum nitride layer is stacked over a copperlayer, a two-layer structure in which a titanium nitride layer and amolybdenum layer are stacked, or a two-layer structure in which atungsten nitride layer and a tungsten layer are stacked is preferable.As a three-layer structure, a stack of a tungsten layer or a tungstennitride layer, an alloy layer of aluminum and silicon or an alloy layerof aluminum and titanium, and a titanium nitride layer or a titaniumlayer is preferable. Note that the gate electrode layer may be formedusing a light-transmitting conductive film. A light-transmittingconductive oxide can be given as an example of the light-transmittingconductive film.

Then, the gate insulating layer 397 is formed over the gate electrodelayer 391.

The gate insulating layer 397 can be formed with a single-layerstructure or a layered structure using any of a silicon oxide layer, asilicon nitride layer, a silicon oxynitride layer, a silicon nitrideoxide layer, and an aluminum oxide layer with a plasma CVD method, asputtering method, or the like. Note that the gate insulating layer 397is preferably formed with a sputtering method so that the gateinsulating layer 397 contains hydrogen as little as possible. In thecase where a silicon oxide film is formed with a sputtering method, asilicon target or a quartz target is used as a target and a mixed gas ofoxygen and argon is used as a sputtering gas.

The gate insulating layer 397 may have a structure where a siliconnitride layer and a silicon oxide layer are stacked from the gateelectrode layer 391 side. For example, a silicon nitride layer (SiN_(y)(y>0)) with a thickness of 50 nm to 200 nm inclusive is formed with asputtering method as a first gate insulating layer and a silicon oxidelayer (SiO_(x) (x>0)) with a thickness of 5 nm to 300 nm inclusive isstacked as a second gate insulating layer over the first gate insulatinglayer; thus, the gate insulating layer with a thickness of 100 nm may beformed.

Further, in order that hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture might becontained in the gate insulating layer 397 and the oxide semiconductorfilm 393 as little as possible, it is preferable that the substrate 394over which the gate electrode layer 391 is formed or the substrate 394over which layers up to the gate insulating layer 397 are formed bepreheated in a preheating chamber of a sputtering apparatus aspretreatment for film formation so that impurities such as hydrogen andmoisture adsorbed to the substrate 394 is eliminated. The temperaturefor the preheating is 100° C. to 400° C. inclusive, preferably 150° C.to 300° C. inclusive. Note that a cryopump is preferable as anevacuation unit provided in the preheating chamber. Note that thispreheating treatment may be omitted. Further, this preheating may besimilarly performed on the substrate 394 over which layers up to asource electrode layer 395 a and a drain electrode layer 395 b have beenformed, before formation of the oxide insulating layer 396.

Then, an oxide semiconductor film 393 is formed to a thickness of 2 nmto 200 nm inclusive over the gate insulating layer 397 (see FIG. 10A).

Note that before the oxide semiconductor film 393 is formed with asputtering method, dust attached to a surface of the gate insulatinglayer 397 is preferably removed with reverse sputtering in which anargon gas is introduced and plasma is generated.

The oxide semiconductor film 393 is formed with a sputtering method. Theoxide semiconductor film 393 is formed using an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, an In—Sn—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, anIn—Al—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, a Sn—Ga—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, an Al—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, aSn—Al—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, an In—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, a Sn—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, anAl—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, an In—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, a Sn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, or aZn—O-based oxide semiconductor film. In this embodiment, the oxidesemiconductor film 393 is formed with a sputtering method with the useof an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film formation target.Further, the oxide semiconductor film 393 can be formed with asputtering method in a rare gas (typically, argon) atmosphere, an oxygenatmosphere, or a mixed atmosphere containing a rare gas (typically,argon) and oxygen. In the case of employing a sputtering method, atarget containing SiO₂ at 2 wt % to 10 wt % inclusive may be used forfilm formation.

As a target for forming the oxide semiconductor film 393 with asputtering method, a metal oxide target containing zinc oxide as itsmain component can be used. As another example of a metal oxide target,an oxide semiconductor film formation target containing In, Ga, and Zn(in a composition ratio, In₂O₃:Ga₂O₃:ZnO=1:1:1 [mol %], In:Ga:Zn=1:1:0.5[atomic %]) can be used. Alternatively, an oxide semiconductor filmformation target containing In, Ga, and Zn (the composition ratio ofIn:Ga:Zn=1:1:1 or 1:1:2 [atomic %]) may be used. The fill rate of theoxide semiconductor film formation target is 90% to 100% inclusive,preferably, 95% to 99.9% inclusive. With the use of the oxidesemiconductor film formation target with high fill rate, a dense oxidesemiconductor film is formed.

The substrate is held in a treatment chamber kept under reducedpressure, and the substrate is heated to room temperature or atemperature of lower than 400° C. Then, a sputtering gas from whichhydrogen and moisture are removed is introduced into the treatmentchamber from which remaining moisture is being removed, and the oxidesemiconductor film 393 is formed over the substrate 394 with the use ofa metal oxide as a target. To remove moisture remaining in the treatmentchamber, an entrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, acryopump, an ion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferablyused. Further, an evacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with acold trap. In the deposition chamber which is evacuated with thecryopump, a hydrogen atom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, suchas water (H₂O), (more preferably, also a compound containing a carbonatom), and the like are removed, whereby the concentration of animpurity in the oxide semiconductor film formed in the depositionchamber can be reduced.

An example of the deposition condition is as follows: the distancebetween the substrate and the target is 60 mm, the pressure is 0.6 Pa,the DC power is 0.5 kW, and the atmosphere is an oxygen atmosphere (theflow rate of oxygen is 100%). It is preferable that a pulsed DC powersource be used because powder substances generated in film formation canbe reduced and the film thickness can be uniform. The oxidesemiconductor film preferably has a thickness of 5 nm to 30 nminclusive. Note that the appropriate thickness depends on an oxidesemiconductor material used and the thickness may be selected inaccordance with a material.

Then, in a second photolithography process, the oxide semiconductor filmis processed into an island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer 399 (seeFIG. 10B). A resist mask for forming the island-shaped oxidesemiconductor layer 399 may be formed with an ink-jet method. When theresist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, a photomask is not used;therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

In forming the oxide semiconductor layer 399, a contact hole can beformed in the gate insulating layer 397.

Note that the etching of the oxide semiconductor film 393 may be dryetching, wet etching, or both dry etching and wet etching.

As the etching gas for dry etching, a gas containing chlorine(chlorine-based gas such as chlorine (Cl₂), boron chloride (BCl₃),silicon chloride (SiCl₄), or carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)) is preferablyused.

Alternatively, a gas containing fluorine (fluorine-based gas such ascarbon tetrafluoride (CF₄), sulfur fluoride (SF₆), nitrogen fluoride(NF), or trifluoromethane (CHF₃)); hydrogen bromide (HBr); oxygen (O₂);any of these gases to which a rare gas such as helium (He) or argon (Ar)is added; or the like can be used.

As the dry etching method, a parallel plate RIE (reactive ion etching)method or an ICP (inductively coupled plasma) etching method can beused. In order to etch the film into a desired shape, the etchingcondition (the amount of electric power applied to a coil-shapedelectrode, the amount of electric power applied to an electrode on thesubstrate side, the temperature of the electrode on the substrate side,or the like) is adjusted as appropriate.

As an etchant used for wet etching, a mixed solution of phosphoric acid,acetic acid, and nitric acid, or the like can be used. Alternatively,ITO07N (produced by KANTO CHEMICAL CO., INC.) may be used.

The etchant used in the wet etching is removed by cleaning together withthe material which is etched off. The waste liquid including the etchantand the material etched off may be purified and the material may bereused. When a material such as indium included in the oxidesemiconductor layer is collected from the waste liquid after the etchingand reused, the resources can be efficiently used and the cost can bereduced.

The etching conditions (such as an etchant, etching time, andtemperature) are appropriately adjusted depending on the material sothat the oxide semiconductor film can be etched to have a desired shape.

Note that it is preferable to perform reverse sputtering beforeformation of a conductive film in the following step so that a resistresidue and the like attached to surfaces of the oxide semiconductorlayer 399 and the gate insulating layer 397 can be removed.

Next, a conductive film is formed over the gate insulating layer 397 andthe oxide semiconductor layer 399. The conductive film may be formedwith a sputtering method or a vacuum evaporation method. As the materialof the conductive film, there are an element selected from Al, Cr, Cu,Ta, Ti, Mo, or W; an alloy including any of the above elements; an alloyfilm containing a combination of any of these elements; and the like.Further, one or more materials selected from manganese, magnesium,zirconium, beryllium, and thorium may be used. The conductive film mayhave a single-layer structure or a layered structure of two or morelayers. For example, a single-layer structure of an aluminum filmincluding silicon, a two-layer structure in which a titanium film isstacked over an aluminum film, a three-layer structure in which a Tifilm, an aluminum film, and a Ti film are stacked in the orderpresented, and the like can be given. Alternatively, a film, an alloyfilm, or a nitride film of a combination of Al and one or plurality ofelements selected from the followings may be used: titanium (Ti),tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr), neodymium(Nd), and scandium (Sc).

A third photolithography process is performed. A resist mask is formedover the conductive film and selective etching is performed, so that thesource electrode layer 395 a and the drain electrode layer 395 b areformed. Then, the resist mask is removed (see FIG. 10C).

Ultraviolet, a KrF laser beam, or an ArF laser beam is used for lightexposure for forming the resist mask in the third photolithographyprocess. A channel length L of the thin film transistor to be formedlater depends on a width of an interval between a bottom portion of thesource electrode layer and a bottom portion of the drain electrode layerwhich are adjacent to each other over the oxide semiconductor layer 399.Note that when light exposure is performed in the case where the channellength L is shorter than 25 nm, extreme ultraviolet with extremely shortwavelengths of several nanometers to several tens of nanometers is usedfor light exposure for forming the resist mask in the thirdphotolithography process. Light exposure with extreme ultraviolet leadsto a high resolution and a large depth of field. Accordingly, thechannel length L of the thin film transistor to be formed later can beset to 10 nm to 1000 nm inclusive. Thus, the operation speed of acircuit can be increased, and further, an off current is significantlysmall, so that low power consumption can be achieved.

Note that materials and etching conditions are adjusted as appropriateso that the oxide semiconductor layer 399 is not removed when theconductive film is etched.

Note that in the third photolithography process, only part of the oxidesemiconductor layer 399 is etched, whereby an oxide semiconductor layerhaving a groove (a depressed portion) might be formed. The resist maskused for forming the source electrode layer 395 a and the drainelectrode layer 395 b may be formed with an ink-jet method. When theresist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, a photomask is not used;therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

To reduce the number of photomasks and steps in a photolithography step,etching may be performed with the use of a resist mask formed using amulti-tone mask which is a light-exposure mask through which light istransmitted so as to have a plurality of intensities. Since a resistmask formed using a multi-tone mask has a plurality of thicknesses andcan be further changed in shape by performing etching, the resist maskcan be used in a plurality of etching steps to provide differentpatterns. Thus, a resist mask corresponding to at least two kinds ofdifferent patterns can be formed by using a multi-tone mask.Accordingly, the number of light-exposure masks can be reduced and thenumber of corresponding photolithography steps can be also reduced,whereby simplification of a process can be realized.

With plasma treatment with a gas such as N₂O, N₂, or Ar, water adsorbedto a surface of an exposed portion of the oxide semiconductor layer maybe removed. Alternatively, plasma treatment may be performed using amixed gas of oxygen and argon.

In the case of performing the plasma treatment, the oxide insulatinglayer 396 is formed without exposure to the air as an oxide insulatinglayer which serves as a protective insulating film and is in contactwith part of the oxide semiconductor layer (see FIG. 10D). In thisembodiment, the oxide insulating layer 396 is formed in contact with theoxide semiconductor layer 399 in a region where the oxide semiconductorlayer 399 does not overlap with the source electrode layer 395 a and thedrain electrode layer 395 b.

In this embodiment, the substrate 394 over which layers up to theisland-shaped oxide semiconductor layer 399, the source electrode layer395 a, the drain electrode layer 395 b have been formed is heated toroom temperature or a temperature of lower than 100° C. and a sputteringgas from which hydrogen and moisture are removed and which containshigh-purity oxygen is introduced, and a silicon semiconductor target isused, whereby a silicon oxide layer having a defect is formed as theoxide insulating layer 396.

For example, the silicon oxide layer is formed with a pulsed DCsputtering method in which the purity of a sputtering gas is 6N, aboron-doped silicon target (the resistivity is 0.01 Ωcm) is used, thedistance between the substrate and the target (T-S distance) is 89 mm,the pressure is 0.4 Pa, the DC power is 6 kW, and the atmosphere is anoxygen atmosphere (the oxygen flow rate is 100%). The thickness of thesilicon oxide film is 300 nm. Note that instead of a silicon target,quartz (preferably, synthetic quartz) can be used as a target used whenthe silicon oxide film is formed. As a sputtering gas, oxygen or a mixedgas of oxygen and argon is used.

In that case, the oxide insulating layer 396 is preferably formedremoving moisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is forpreventing hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being containedin the oxide semiconductor layer 399 and the oxide insulating layer 396.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theoxide insulating layer 396 formed in the deposition chamber can bereduced.

Note that as the oxide insulating layer 396, a silicon oxynitride layer,an aluminum oxide layer, an aluminum oxynitride layer, or the like maybe used instead of the silicon oxide layer.

Further, heat treatment may be performed at 100° C. to 400° C. while theoxide insulating layer 396 and the oxide semiconductor layer 399 are incontact with each other. Since the oxide insulating layer 396 in thisembodiment has a lot of defects, with this heat treatment, an impuritysuch as hydrogen, moisture, a hydroxyl group, or hydride contained inthe oxide semiconductor layer 399 can be diffused to the oxideinsulating layer 396 so that the impurity in the oxide semiconductorlayer 399 can be further reduced.

Through the above steps, the thin film transistor 390 including theoxide semiconductor layer 392 in which the concentration of hydrogen,moisture, hydride, or hydroxide is reduced can be formed (see FIG. 10E).

Moisture remaining in a reaction atmosphere is removed as describedabove in forming the oxide semiconductor film, whereby the concentrationof hydrogen and hydride in the oxide semiconductor film can be reduced.Accordingly, the oxide semiconductor film can be stable.

A protective insulating layer may be provided over the oxide insulatinglayer. In this embodiment, the protective insulating layer 398 is formedover the oxide insulating layer 396. As the protective insulating layer398, a silicon nitride layer, a silicon nitride oxide layer, an aluminumnitride layer, an aluminum nitride oxide layer, or the like is used.

The substrate 394 over which layers up to the oxide insulating layer 396have been formed is heated to a temperature of 100° C. to 400° C., asputtering gas from which hydrogen and moisture are removed and whichcontains high-purity nitrogen is introduced, and a silicon semiconductortarget is used, whereby a silicon nitride layer is formed as theprotective insulating layer 398. In this case, the protective insulatinglayer 398 is preferably formed removing moisture remaining in atreatment chamber, similarly to the oxide insulating layer 396.

In the case where the protective insulating layer 398 is formed, thesubstrate 394 is heated to 100° C. to 400° C. in forming the protectiveinsulating layer 398, whereby hydrogen or water contained in the oxidesemiconductor layer can be diffused to the oxide insulating layer. Inthat case, heat treatment is not necessarily performed after formationof the oxide insulating layer 396.

In the case where the silicon oxide layer is formed as the oxideinsulating layer 396 and the silicon nitride layer is stacked thereoveras the protective insulating layer 398, the silicon oxide layer and thesilicon nitride layer can be formed with the use of a common silicontarget in the same treatment chamber. After a sputtering gas containingoxygen is introduced first, a silicon oxide layer is formed using asilicon target mounted in the treatment chamber, and then, thesputtering gas is switched to a sputtering gas containing nitrogen andthe same silicon target is used to form a silicon nitride layer. Sincethe silicon oxide layer and the silicon nitride layer can be formedsuccessively without being exposed to the air, impurities such ashydrogen and moisture can be prevented from adsorbing onto a surface ofthe silicon oxide layer. In that case, after the silicon oxide layer isformed as the oxide insulating layer 396 and the silicon nitride layeris stacked thereover as the protective insulating layer 398, heattreatment (at a temperature of 100° C. to 400° C.) for diffusinghydrogen or moisture contained in the oxide semiconductor layer to theoxide insulating layer is preferably performed.

After the protective insulating layer is formed, heat treatment may befurther performed at 100° C. to 200° C. inclusive for one hour to 30hours inclusive in the air. This heat treatment may be performed at afixed heating temperature. Alternatively, the following change in theheating temperature may be conducted plural times repeatedly: theheating temperature is increased from a room temperature to atemperature of 100° C. to 200° C. inclusive and then decreased to a roomtemperature. Further, this heat treatment may be performed under areduced pressure before formation of the oxide insulating layer. Under areduced pressure, the heating time can be shortened. With this heattreatment, the thin film transistor can be normally off Therefore,reliability of the thin film transistor can be improved.

Moisture remaining in a reaction atmosphere is removed in forming theoxide semiconductor layer including a channel formation region over thegate insulating layer, whereby the concentration of hydrogen and hydridein the oxide semiconductor layer can be reduced.

The above steps can be used for manufacture of backplanes (substratesover which thin film transistors are formed) of liquid crystal displaypanels, electroluminescent display panels, display devices usingelectronic ink, or the like. Since the above steps can be performed at atemperature of 400° C. or lower, they can also be applied tomanufacturing steps where a glass substrate with a thickness of 1 mm orsmaller and a side of longer than 1 m. In addition, all of the abovesteps can be performed at a treatment temperature of 400° C. or lower,display panels can be manufactured without consuming much energy.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Thus, the thin film transistor including the oxide semiconductor layercan have stable electric characteristics and high reliability.

Embodiment 6

In this embodiment, an example of thin film transistors which can beapplied to transistors included in the logic circuit and thesemiconductor device disclosed in this specification.

One embodiment of a thin film transistor and a manufacturing method ofthe thin film transistor of this embodiment is described with referenceto FIGS. 11A to 11E.

FIGS. 11A to 11E illustrate an example of a cross-sectional structure ofa thin film transistor. A thin film transistor 310 illustrated in FIGS.11A to 11E is one of bottom gate thin film transistors and is alsoreferred to as an inverted staggered thin film transistor.

Although description is given using a single-gate thin film transistoras the thin film transistor 310, a multi-gate thin film transistorincluding a plurality of channel formation regions may be formed asneeded.

A process of manufacturing the thin film transistor 410 over a substrate300 is described below with reference to FIGS. 11A to 11E.

First, after a conductive film is formed over the substrate 300 havingan insulating surface, a gate electrode layer 311 is formed in a firstphotolithography process. Note that a resist mask may be formed with anink-jet method. When the resist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, aphotomask is not used; therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

There is no particular limitation on a substrate that can be used as thesubstrate 300 having an insulating surface as long as it has at leastheat resistance enough to withstand heat treatment performed later. Aglass substrate formed using barium borosilicate glass,aluminoborosilicate glass, or the like can be used.

When the temperature of the heat treatment performed later is high, asubstrate having a strain point of 730° C. or higher is preferably usedas the glass substrate. As a material of the glass substrate, a glassmaterial such as aluminosilicate glass, aluminoborosilicate glass, orbarium borosilicate glass is used, for example. Note that by containinga larger amount of barium oxide (BaO) than boron oxide (B₂O₃), a glasssubstrate is heat-resistant and of more practical use. Therefore, aglass substrate containing a larger amount of BaO than B₂O₃ ispreferably used.

Note that, instead of the glass substrate described above, a substrateformed using an insulator such as a ceramic substrate, a quartzsubstrate, or a sapphire substrate may be used as the substrate 300.Alternatively, a crystallized glass substrate or the like may be used.

An insulating film serving as a base film may be provided between thesubstrate 300 and the gate electrode layer 311. The base film has afunction of preventing diffusion of an impurity element from thesubstrate 300, and can be formed with a single-layer structure or alayered structure using any of a silicon nitride film, a silicon oxidefilm, a silicon nitride oxide film, and a silicon oxynitride film.

Further, the gate electrode layer 311 can be formed with a single-layerstructure or a layered structure using any of metal materials such asmolybdenum, titanium, chromium, tantalum, tungsten, aluminum, copper,neodymium, and scandium, and an alloy material including any of thesematerials as a main component.

As a two-layer structure of the gate electrode layer 311, for example, atwo-layer structure in which a molybdenum layer is stacked over analuminum layer, a two-layer structure in which a molybdenum layer isstacked over a copper layer, a two-layer structure in which a titaniumnitride layer or a tantalum nitride layer is stacked over a copperlayer, a two-layer structure in which a titanium nitride layer and amolybdenum layer are stacked, or a two-layer structure in which atungsten nitride layer and a tungsten layer are stacked is preferable.As a three-layer structure, a stack of a tungsten layer or a tungstennitride layer, an alloy layer of aluminum and silicon or an alloy layerof aluminum and titanium, and a titanium nitride layer or a titaniumlayer is preferable.

Then, the gate insulating layer 302 is formed over the gate electrodelayer 311.

The gate insulating layer 302 can be formed with a single-layerstructure or a layered structure using any of a silicon oxide layer, asilicon nitride layer, a silicon oxynitride layer, a silicon nitrideoxide layer, and an aluminum oxide layer with a plasma CVD method, asputtering method, or the like. For example, a silicon oxynitride layermay be formed with a plasma CVD method with SiH₄, oxygen, and nitrogenfor a deposition gas. For example, the thickness of the gate insulatinglayer 302 is 100 nm to 500 nm inclusive, and in the case where the gateinsulating layer 302 has a layered structure, a second gate insulatinglayer with a thickness of 5 nm to 300 nm inclusive is stacked over afirst gate insulating layer with a thickness of 50 nm to 200 nminclusive, for example.

In this embodiment, a silicon oxynitride layer having a thickness ofsmaller than or equal to 100 nm is formed as the gate insulating layer302 with a plasma CVD method.

Then, an oxide semiconductor film 330 is formed to a thickness of 2 nmto 200 nm inclusive over the gate insulating layer 302.

Note that before the oxide semiconductor film 330 is formed with asputtering method, dust attached to a surface of the gate insulatinglayer 302 is preferably removed with reverse sputtering in which anargon gas is introduced and plasma is generated. Note that instead of anargon atmosphere, a nitrogen atmosphere, a helium atmosphere, an oxygenatmosphere, or the like may be used.

The oxide semiconductor film 330 is formed using an In—Ga—Zn—O-basedoxide semiconductor film, an In—Sn—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film,an In—Al—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, a Sn—Ga—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, an Al—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, aSn—Al—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, an In—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, a Sn—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, anAl—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, an In—O-based oxidesemiconductor film, a Sn—O-based oxide semiconductor film, or aZn—O-based oxide semiconductor film. In this embodiment, the oxidesemiconductor film 330 is formed with a sputtering method with the useof an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor target. FIG. 11A correspondsto a cross-sectional view at this stage. Further, the oxidesemiconductor film 330 can be formed with a sputtering method in a raregas (typically, argon) atmosphere, an oxygen atmosphere, or a mixedatmosphere containing a rare gas (typically, argon) and oxygen. In thecase of employing a sputtering method, a target containing SiO₂ at 2 wt% to 10 wt % inclusive may be used for film formation.

As a target for forming the oxide semiconductor film 330 with asputtering method, a metal oxide target containing zinc oxide as itsmain component can be used. As another example of a metal oxide target,an oxide semiconductor film formation target containing In, Ga, and Zn(in a composition ratio, In₂O₃:Ga₂O₃:ZnO=1:1:1 [mol %], In:Ga:Zn=1:1:0.5[atomic %]) can be used. Alternatively, an oxide semiconductor filmformation target containing In, Ga, and Zn (the composition ratio ofIn:Ga:Zn=1:1:1 or 1:1:2 [atomic %]) may be used. The fill rate of theoxide semiconductor film formation target is 90% to 100% inclusive,preferably, 95% to 99.9% inclusive. With the use of the oxidesemiconductor film formation target with high fill rate, a dense oxidesemiconductor film is formed.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide semiconductor film 330 is formed.

The substrate is held in a treatment chamber kept under reducedpressure, and the substrate temperature is set to 100° C. to 600° C.,preferably 200° C. to 400° C. Film formation is performed while thesubstrate is heated, whereby the concentration of an impurity containedin the oxide semiconductor film formed can be reduced. Further, damagesdue to sputtering can be reduced. Then, a sputtering gas from whichhydrogen and moisture are removed is introduced into the treatmentchamber from which remaining moisture is being removed, and the oxidesemiconductor film 330 is formed over the substrate 300 with the use ofa metal oxide as a target. To remove moisture remaining in the treatmentchamber, an entrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, acryopump, an ion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferablyused. Further, an evacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with acold trap. In the deposition chamber which is evacuated with thecryopump, a hydrogen atom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, suchas water (H₂O), (more preferably, also a compound containing a carbonatom), and the like are removed, whereby the concentration of animpurity in the oxide semiconductor film formed in the depositionchamber can be reduced.

An example of the deposition condition is as follows: the distancebetween the substrate and the target is 100 mm, the pressure is 0.6 Pa,the DC power is 0.5 kW, and the atmosphere is an oxygen atmosphere (theflow rate of oxygen is 100%). It is preferable that a pulsed DC powersource be used because powder substances generated in film formation canbe reduced and the film thickness can be uniform. The oxidesemiconductor film preferably has a thickness of 5 nm to 30 nminclusive. Note that the appropriate thickness depends on an oxidesemiconductor material used and the thickness may be selected inaccordance with a material.

Then, in a second photolithography process, the oxide semiconductor film330 is processed into an island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer. Aresist mask for forming the island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer maybe formed with an ink-jet method. When the resist mask is formed with anink-jet method, a photomask is not used; therefore, manufacturing costscan be reduced.

Next, the oxide semiconductor layer is subjected to first heattreatment. With the first heat treatment, dehydration or dehydrogenationof the oxide semiconductor layer can be conducted. The temperature ofthe first heat treatment is higher than or equal to 400° C. and lowerthan or equal to 750° C., preferably higher than or equal to 400° C. andlower than the strain point of the substrate. Here, the substrate isintroduced into an electric furnace which is one of heat treatmentapparatuses, heat treatment is performed on the oxide semiconductorlayer in a nitrogen atmosphere at 450° C. for one hour, and then, theoxide semiconductor layer is not exposed to the air so that entry ofwater and hydrogen into the oxide semiconductor layer is prevented;thus, an oxide semiconductor layer 331 is obtained (see FIG. 11B).

The apparatus for the heat treatment is not limited to the electricfurnace and may be the one provided with a device for heating an objectto be processed, using heat conduction or heat radiation from a heatingelement such as a resistance heating element. For example, an RTA (rapidthermal anneal) apparatus such as a GRTA (gas rapid thermal anneal)apparatus or an LRTA (lamp rapid thermal anneal) apparatus can be used.An LRTA apparatus is an apparatus for heating an object to be processedby radiation of light (an electromagnetic wave) emitted from a lamp suchas a halogen lamp, a metal halide lamp, a xenon arc lamp, a carbon arclamp, a high pressure sodium lamp, or a high pressure mercury lamp. AGRTA apparatus is an apparatus for heat treatment using ahigh-temperature gas. As the gas, an inert gas which does not react withan object to be processed due to heat treatment, such as nitrogen or arare gas such as argon is used.

For example, as the first heat treatment, GRTA may be performed asfollows. The substrate is transferred and put in an inert gas which hasbeen heated to a high temperature of 650° C. to 700° C., heated forseveral minutes, and transferred and taken out of the inert gas whichhas been heated to a high temperature. GRTA enables high-temperatureheat treatment in a short time.

Note that in the first heat treatment, it is preferable that water,hydrogen, and the like be not included in nitrogen or a rare gas such ashelium, neon, or argon. Alternatively, it is preferable that nitrogen ora rare gas such as helium, neon, or argon introduced into an apparatusfor the heat treatment have a purity of 6N (99.9999%) or more,preferably, 7N (99.99999%) or more (that is, an impurity concentrationis set to 1 ppm or lower, preferably, 0.1 ppm or lower).

Further, the oxide semiconductor layer might be crystallized to be amicrocrystalline film or a polycrystalline film depending on a conditionof the first heat treatment or a material of the oxide semiconductorlayer. For example, the oxide semiconductor layer may be crystallized tobecome a microcrystalline oxide semiconductor film having a degree ofcrystallization of 90% or more, or 80% or more. Further, depending onthe condition of the first heat treatment and the material of the oxidesemiconductor layer, the oxide semiconductor layer may become anamorphous oxide semiconductor film containing no crystalline component.The oxide semiconductor layer might become an oxide semiconductor filmin which a microcrystalline portion (with a grain diameter greater thanor equal to 1 nm and less than or equal to 20 nm, typically greater thanor equal to 2 nm and less than or equal to 4 nm) is mixed into anamorphous oxide semiconductor.

Alternatively, the first heat treatment of the oxide semiconductor layermay be performed on the oxide semiconductor film 330 which has not yetbeen processed into the island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer. In thatcase, after the first heat treatment, the substrate is taken out of theheating apparatus and a photolithography process is performed.

The heat treatment having an effect of dehydration or dehydrogenation onthe oxide semiconductor layer may be performed at any of the followingtimings: after the oxide semiconductor layer is formed; after a sourceelectrode layer and a drain electrode layer are formed over the oxidesemiconductor layer; and after a protective insulating layer is formedover the source electrode layer and the drain electrode layer.

In the case of forming a contact hole in the gate insulating layer 302,the step may be performed either before or after dehydration ordehydrogenation of the oxide semiconductor film 330.

Note that the etching of the oxide semiconductor film is not limited towet etching and may be dry etching.

The etching conditions (such as an etchant, etching time, andtemperature) are appropriately adjusted depending on the material sothat the oxide semiconductor film can be etched to have a desired shape.

Next, a conductive film is formed over the gate insulating layer 302 andthe oxide semiconductor layer 331. The conductive film may be formedwith a sputtering method or a vacuum evaporation method. As the materialof the conductive film, there are an element selected from Al, Cr, Cu,Ta, Ti, Mo, or W; an alloy including any of the above elements; an alloyfilm containing a combination of any of these elements; and the like.Further, one or more materials selected from manganese, magnesium,zirconium, beryllium, and thorium may be used. The conductive film mayhave a single-layer structure or a layered structure of two or morelayers. For example, a single-layer structure of an aluminum filmincluding silicon, a two-layer structure in which a titanium film isstacked over an aluminum film, a three-layer structure in which a Tifilm, an aluminum film, and a Ti film are stacked in the orderpresented, and the like can be given. Alternatively, a film, an alloyfilm, or a nitride film of a combination of Al and one or plurality ofelements selected from the followings may be used: titanium (Ti),tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr), neodymium(Nd), and scandium (Sc).

If heat treatment is performed after formation of the conductive film,it is preferable that the conductive film have heat resistance enough towithstand the heat treatment.

A third photolithography process is performed. A resist mask is formedover the conductive film and selective etching is performed, so that asource electrode layer 315 a and a drain electrode layer 315 b areformed. Then, the resist mask is removed (see FIG. 11C).

Ultraviolet, a KrF laser beam, or an ArF laser beam is used for lightexposure for forming the resist mask in the third photolithographyprocess. A channel length L of the thin film transistor to be formedlater depends on a width of an interval between a bottom portion of thesource electrode layer and a bottom portion of the drain electrode layerwhich are adjacent to each other over the oxide semiconductor layer 331.Note that when light exposure is performed in the case where the channellength L is shorter than 25 nm, extreme ultraviolet with extremely shortwavelengths of several nanometers to several tens of nanometers is usedfor light exposure for forming the resist mask in the thirdphotolithography process. Light exposure with extreme ultraviolet leadsto a high resolution and a large depth of field. Accordingly, thechannel length L of the thin film transistor to be formed later can beset to 10 nm to 1000 nm inclusive. Thus, the operation speed of acircuit can be increased, and further, an off current is significantlysmall, so that low power consumption can be achieved.

Note that materials and etching conditions are adjusted as appropriateso that the oxide semiconductor layer 331 is not removed when theconductive film is etched.

Note that in the third photolithography process, only part of the oxidesemiconductor layer 331 is etched, whereby an oxide semiconductor layerhaving a groove (a depressed portion) might be formed. The resist maskused for forming the source electrode layer 315 a and the drainelectrode layer 315 b may be formed with an ink-jet method. When theresist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, a photomask is not used;therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Further, an oxide conductive layer may be formed between the oxidesemiconductor layer and the source and drain electrode layers. The oxideconductive layer and a metal layer for forming the source and drainelectrode layers can be formed successively. The oxide conductive layercan function as a source region and a drain region.

When the oxide conductive layer is provided as the source region and thedrain region between the oxide semiconductor layer and the source anddrain electrode layers, the source region and the drain region can havelower resistance and the transistor can operate at high speed.

To reduce the number of photomasks and steps in a photolithography step,etching may be performed with the use of a resist mask formed using amulti-tone mask which is a light-exposure mask through which light istransmitted so as to have a plurality of intensities. Since a resistmask formed using a multi-tone mask has a plurality of thicknesses andcan be further changed in shape by performing etching, the resist maskcan be used in a plurality of etching steps to provide differentpatterns. Thus, a resist mask corresponding to at least two kinds ofdifferent patterns can be formed by using a multi-tone mask.Accordingly, the number of light-exposure masks can be reduced and thenumber of corresponding photolithography steps can be also reduced,whereby simplification of a process can be realized.

Next, plasma treatment with a gas such as N₂O, N₂, or Ar is performed.With this plasma treatment, water adsorbed to a surface of an exposedportion of the oxide semiconductor layer is removed. Alternatively,plasma treatment may be performed using a mixed gas of oxygen and argon.

After the plasma treatment is performed, an oxide insulating layer 316which serves as a protective insulating film and is in contact with partof the oxide semiconductor layer is formed without exposure to the air.

The oxide insulating layer 316 can be formed to a thickness of longerthan or equal to 1 nm with a sputtering method or the like asappropriate, which is a method with which an impurity such as water orhydrogen does not enter the oxide insulating layer 316. When hydrogen iscontained in the oxide insulating layer 316, entry of the hydrogen tothe oxide semiconductor layer or extraction of oxygen in the oxidesemiconductor layer by the hydrogen is caused, whereby a backchannel ofthe oxide semiconductor layer comes to be n-type (to have a lowerresistance) and thus a parasitic channel might be formed. Therefore, itis important that a formation method in which hydrogen is not used isemployed so that the oxide insulating layer 316 is formed containing aslittle hydrogen as possible.

In this embodiment, a silicon oxide film is formed to a thickness of 200nm as the oxide insulating layer 316 with a sputtering method. Thesubstrate temperature in film formation may be higher than or equal toroom temperature and lower than or equal to 300° C. and in thisembodiment, is 100° C. The silicon oxide film can be formed with asputtering method in a rare gas (typically, argon) atmosphere, an oxygenatmosphere, or a mixed atmosphere of a rare gas (typically, argon) andoxygen. Further, a silicon oxide target or a silicon target can be usedas a target. For example, the silicon oxide film can be formed using asilicon target with a sputtering method in an atmosphere containingoxygen and nitrogen. The oxide insulating layer 316 which is formed incontact with the oxide semiconductor layer in a region which is in anoxygen-deficient state and thus is n-type, that is, has a lowerresistance is formed using an inorganic insulating film that does notcontain impurities such as moisture, a hydrogen ion, and OH⁻ and blocksentry of such impurities from the outside, typically, a silicon oxidefilm, a silicon oxynitride film, an aluminum oxide film, or an aluminumoxynitride film.

In that case, the oxide insulating layer 316 is preferably formedremoving moisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is forpreventing hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being containedin the oxide semiconductor layer 331 and the oxide insulating layer 316.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theoxide insulating layer 316 formed in the deposition chamber can bereduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide insulating layer 316 is formed.

Next, second heat treatment (preferably 200° C. to 400° C. inclusive,for example, from 250° C. to 350° C. inclusive) is performed in an inertgas atmosphere or an oxygen gas atmosphere. For example, the second heattreatment is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 250° C. for one hour.With the second heat treatment, heat is applied while part of the oxidesemiconductor layer (a channel formation region) is in contact with theoxide insulating layer 316.

Through the above steps, the oxide semiconductor layer comes to be in anoxygen-deficient state and thus has a lower resistance, that is, comesto be n-type when heat treatment for dehydration or dehydrogenation isperformed on the formed oxide semiconductor layer. Then, the oxideinsulating layer is formed in contact with the oxide semiconductorlayer. Accordingly, part of the oxide semiconductor layer is selectivelyin an oxygen excess state. As a result, the channel formation region 313overlapping with the gate electrode layer 311 becomes i-type. At thattime, a high-resistance source region 314 a which has higher carrierconcentration than at least the channel formation region 363 andoverlaps with the source electrode layer 315 a and a high-resistancedrain region 314 b which has higher carrier concentration than at leastthe channel formation region 363 and overlaps with the drain electrodelayer 315 b are formed in a self-aligned manner. Through the abovesteps, the thin film transistor 310 is formed (see FIG. 11D).

Further, heat treatment may be performed at 100° C. to 200° C. inclusivefor one hour to 30 hours inclusive in the air. In this embodiment, heattreatment is performed at 150° C. for ten hours. This heat treatment maybe performed at a fixed heating temperature. Alternatively, thefollowing change in the heating temperature may be conducted pluraltimes repeatedly: the heating temperature is increased from a roomtemperature to a temperature of 100° C. to 200° C. inclusive and thendecreased to a room temperature. Further, this heat treatment may beperformed under a reduced pressure before formation of the oxideinsulating layer. Under a reduced pressure, the heating time can beshortened. With this heat treatment, hydrogen is introduced from theoxide semiconductor layer to the oxide insulating layer; thus, the thinfilm transistor can be normally off. Therefore, reliability of the thinfilm transistor can be improved. When a silicon oxide layer having a lotof defects is used as the oxide insulating layer, with this heattreatment, an impurity such as hydrogen, moisture, a hydroxyl group, orhydride contained in the oxide semiconductor layer can be diffused tothe oxide insulating layer so that the impurity in the oxidesemiconductor layer can be further reduced.

Note that by forming the high-resistance drain region 314 b (and thehigh-resistance source region 314 a) in the oxide semiconductor layeroverlapping with the drain electrode layer 315 b (and the sourceelectrode layer 315 a), reliability of the thin film transistor can beimproved. Specifically, by forming the high-resistance drain region 314b, the structure can be obtained in which conductivities of the drainelectrode layer 315 b, the high-resistance drain region 314 b, and thechannel formation region 313 vary. Therefore, in the case where the thinfilm transistor operates with the drain electrode layer 315 b connectedto a wiring for supplying a high power supply potential VDD, thehigh-resistance drain region serves as a buffer and an electric field isnot applied locally even if a voltage is applied between the gateelectrode layer 311 and the drain electrode layer 315 b; thus, thewithstand voltage of the thin film transistor can be increased.

Further, the high-resistance source region or the high-resistance drainregion in the oxide semiconductor layer is formed in the entirethickness direction in the case where the thickness of the oxidesemiconductor layer is 15 nm or smaller. In the case where the thicknessof the oxide semiconductor layer is 30 nm or larger and 50 nm orsmaller, in part of the oxide semiconductor layer, that is, in a regionin the oxide semiconductor layer, which is in contact with the sourceelectrode layer or the drain electrode layer, and the vicinity thereof,resistance is reduced and the high-resistance source region or thehigh-resistance drain region is formed, while a region in the oxidesemiconductor layer, which is close to the gate insulating film, can bemade to be i-type.

A protective insulating layer may be additionally formed over the oxideinsulating layer 316. For example, a silicon nitride film is formed withan RF sputtering method. An RF sputtering method is preferable as aformation method of the protective insulating layer because of highproductivity. The protective insulating layer is formed using aninorganic insulating film which does not contain impurities such asmoisture, a hydrogen ion, and OH⁻ and blocks entry of these from theoutside: for example, a silicon nitride film, an aluminum nitride film,a silicon nitride oxide film, an aluminum nitride oxide film, or thelike is used. In this embodiment, as the protective insulating layer, aprotective insulating layer 303 is formed using a silicon nitride film(see FIG. 11E).

The substrate 300 over which layers up to the oxide insulating layer 316have been formed is heated to a temperature of 100° C. to 400° C., asputtering gas from which hydrogen and moisture are removed and whichcontains high-purity nitrogen is introduced, and a silicon target isused, whereby a silicon nitride layer is formed as the protectiveinsulating layer 303. In this case, the protective insulating layer 303is preferably formed removing moisture remaining in a treatment chamber,similarly to the oxide insulating layer 316.

Note that a planarization insulating layer for planarization may beprovided over the protective insulating layer 303.

Further, a conductive layer may be formed so as to overlap with theoxide semiconductor layer, over the protective insulating layer 303 (inthe case of providing a planarization insulating layer, over theplanarization insulating layer). A potential of the conductive layer maybe the same as or different from that of the gate electrode layer 311 ofthe thin film transistor 310. The conductive layer can also function asa second gate electrode layer. The potential of the conductive layer maybe a fixed potential such as GND or 0 V.

Electric characteristics of the thin film transistor 310 can becontrolled by the conductive layer.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Thus, the thin film transistor including the oxide semiconductor layercan have stable electric characteristics and high reliability.

Embodiment 7

In this embodiment, an example of thin film transistors which can beapplied to transistors included in the logic circuit and thesemiconductor device disclosed in this specification.

One embodiment of a thin film transistor and a manufacturing method ofthe thin film transistor of this embodiment is described with referenceto FIGS. 12A to 12D.

FIGS. 12A to 12D illustrate an example of a cross-sectional structure ofa thin film transistor. A thin film transistor 360 illustrated in FIGS.12A to 12D is one of bottom gate thin film transistors, which is calleda channel protective thin film transistor (also referred to as achannel-stop thin film transistor), and is also referred to as aninverted staggered thin film transistor.

Although description is given using a single-gate thin film transistoras the thin film transistor 360, a multi-gate thin film transistorincluding a plurality of channel formation regions may be formed asneeded.

A process of manufacturing the thin film transistor 360 over a substrate320 is described below with reference to FIGS. 12A to 12D.

First, after a conductive film is formed over the substrate 320 havingan insulating surface, the gate electrode layer 361 is formed in a firstphotolithography process. Note that a resist mask may be formed with anink-jet method. When the resist mask is formed with an ink-jet method, aphotomask is not used; therefore, manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Further, the gate electrode layer 361 can be formed with a single-layerstructure or a layered structure using any of metal materials such asmolybdenum, titanium, chromium, tantalum, tungsten, aluminum, copper,neodymium, and scandium, and an alloy material including any of thesematerials as a main component.

Then, the gate insulating layer 322 is formed over the gate electrodelayer 361.

In this embodiment, a silicon oxynitride layer having a thickness ofsmaller than or equal to 100 nm is formed as the gate insulating layer322 with a plasma CVD method.

Then, an oxide semiconductor film is formed to a thickness of 2 nm to200 nm inclusive over the gate insulating layer 322 and processed intoan island-shaped oxide semiconductor layer in a second photolithographyprocess. In this embodiment, the oxide semiconductor film is formed witha sputtering method with the use of an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film formation target.

In that case, the oxide semiconductor film is preferably formed removingmoisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is for preventinghydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being contained in theoxide semiconductor film.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theoxide semiconductor film formed in the deposition chamber can bereduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide semiconductor film is formed.

Next, the oxide semiconductor layer is subjected to dehydration ordehydrogenation. The temperature of first heat treatment for dehydrationor dehydrogenation is higher than or equal to 400° C. and lower than orequal to 750° C., preferably higher than or equal to 400° C. and lowerthan the strain point of the substrate. Here, the substrate isintroduced into an electric furnace which is one of heat treatmentapparatuses, heat treatment is performed on the oxide semiconductorlayer in a nitrogen atmosphere at 450° C. for one hour, and then, theoxide semiconductor layer is not exposed to the air so that entry ofwater and hydrogen into the oxide semiconductor layer is prevented;thus, an oxide semiconductor layer 332 is obtained (see FIG. 12A).

Next, plasma treatment with a gas such as N₂O, N₂, or Ar is performed.With this plasma treatment, water adsorbed to a surface of an exposedportion of the oxide semiconductor layer is removed. Alternatively,plasma treatment may be performed using a mixed gas of oxygen and argon.

Next, an oxide insulating layer is formed over the gate insulating layer322 and the oxide semiconductor layer 332 and a third photolithographyprocess is performed. A resist mask is formed and selective etching isperformed, so that the oxide insulating layer 366 is formed. Then, theresist mask is removed.

In this embodiment, a silicon oxide film is formed to a thickness of 200nm as the oxide insulating layer 366 with a sputtering method. Thesubstrate temperature in film formation may be higher than or equal toroom temperature and lower than or equal to 300° C. and in thisembodiment, is 100° C. The silicon oxide film can be formed with asputtering method in a rare gas (typically, argon) atmosphere, an oxygenatmosphere, or a mixed atmosphere of a rare gas (typically, argon) andoxygen. Further, a silicon oxide target or a silicon target can be usedas a target. For example, the silicon oxide film can be formed using asilicon target with a sputtering method in an atmosphere containingoxygen and nitrogen. The oxide insulating layer 366 which is formed incontact with the oxide semiconductor layer in a region which is in anoxygen-deficient state and thus has a lower resistance is formed usingan inorganic insulating film that does not contain impurities such asmoisture, a hydrogen ion, and OH⁻ and blocks entry of such impuritiesfrom the outside, typically, a silicon oxide film, a silicon oxynitridefilm, an aluminum oxide film, or an aluminum oxynitride film.

In that case, the oxide insulating layer 366 is preferably formedremoving moisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is forpreventing hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being containedin the oxide semiconductor layer 332 and the oxide insulating layer 366.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theoxide insulating layer 366 formed in the deposition chamber can bereduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide insulating layer 366 is formed.

Next, second heat treatment (preferably 200° C. to 400° C. inclusive,for example, from 250° C. to 350° C. inclusive) may be performed in aninert gas atmosphere or an oxygen gas atmosphere. For example, thesecond heat treatment is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 250° C.for one hour. With the second heat treatment, heat is applied while partof the oxide semiconductor layer (a channel formation region) is incontact with the oxide insulating layer 366.

In this embodiment, heat treatment is further performed on the oxidesemiconductor layer 332 over which the oxide insulating layer 366 isprovided and thus part of the oxide semiconductor layer 332 is exposed,in an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogen or under reduced pressure.By performing heat treatment in an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogenor under reduced pressure, the resistance of regions of the oxidesemiconductor layer 332, which are not covered with the oxide insulatinglayer 366 and are thus exposed, can be increased. For example, heattreatment is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 250° C. for one hour.

With the heat treatment for the oxide semiconductor layer 332 providedwith the oxide insulating layer 366 in a nitrogen atmosphere, theresistance of the exposed regions of the oxide semiconductor layer 332is increased. Thus, an oxide semiconductor layer 362 including regionswith different resistances (indicated as shaded regions and whiteregions in FIG. 12B) are formed.

Next, after a conductive film is formed over the gate insulating layer322, the oxide semiconductor layer 362, and the oxide insulating layer366, and a fourth photolithography process is performed. A resist maskis formed and selective etching is performed, so that a source electrodelayer 365 a and a drain electrode layer 365 b are formed. Then, theresist mask is removed (see FIG. 12C).

As the material of the source electrode layer 365 a and the drainelectrode layer 365 b, there are an element selected from Al, Cr, Cu,Ta, Ti, Mo, or W; an alloy including any of the above elements; an alloyfilm containing a combination of any of these elements; and the like.The metal conductive film may have a single-layer structure or a layeredstructure of two or more layers.

Through the above steps, the oxide semiconductor layer comes to be in anoxygen-deficient state, that is, comes to be n-type when heat treatmentfor dehydration or dehydrogenation is performed on the formed oxidesemiconductor layer. Then, the oxide insulating layer is formed incontact with the oxide semiconductor layer. Accordingly, part of theoxide semiconductor layer is selectively in an oxygen excess state. As aresult, the channel formation region 363 overlapping with the gateelectrode layer 361 becomes i-type. At that time, a high-resistancesource region 364 a which has higher carrier concentration than at leastthe channel formation region 363 and overlaps with the source electrodelayer 365 a and a high-resistance drain region 364 b which has highercarrier concentration than at least the channel formation region 363 andoverlaps with the drain electrode layer 365 b are formed in aself-aligned manner. Through the above steps, the thin film transistor360 is formed.

Further, heat treatment may be performed at 100° C. to 200° C. inclusivefor one hour to 30 hours inclusive in the air. In this embodiment, heattreatment is performed at 150° C. for ten hours. This heat treatment maybe performed at a fixed heating temperature. Alternatively, thefollowing change in the heating temperature may be conducted pluraltimes repeatedly: the heating temperature is increased from a roomtemperature to a temperature of 100° C. to 200° C. inclusive and thendecreased to a room temperature. Further, this heat treatment may beperformed under a reduced pressure before formation of the oxideinsulating layer. Under a reduced pressure, the heating time can beshortened. With this heat treatment, hydrogen is introduced from theoxide semiconductor layer to the oxide insulating layer; thus, the thinfilm transistor can be normally off Therefore, reliability of the thinfilm transistor can be improved.

Note that by forming the high-resistance drain region 364 b (and thehigh-resistance source region 364 a) in the oxide semiconductor layeroverlapping with the drain electrode layer 365 b (and the sourceelectrode layer 365 a), reliability of the thin film transistor can beimproved. Specifically, by forming the high-resistance drain region 364b, the structure can be obtained in which conductivities of the drainelectrode layer 365 b, the high-resistance drain region 364 b, and thechannel formation region 363 vary. Therefore, in the case where the thinfilm transistor operates with the drain electrode layer 365 b connectedto a wiring for supplying a high power supply potential VDD, thehigh-resistance drain region serves as a buffer and an electric field isnot applied locally even if a voltage is applied between the gateelectrode layer 361 and the drain electrode layer 365 b; thus, thewithstand voltage of the thin film transistor can be increased.

A protective insulating layer 323 is formed over the source electrodelayer 365 a, the drain electrode layer 365 b, and the oxide insulatinglayer 366. In this embodiment, the protective insulating layer 323 isformed using a silicon nitride film (see FIG. 12D).

Note that an oxide insulating layer may be further formed over thesource electrode layer 365 a, the drain electrode layer 365 b, and theoxide insulating layer 366, and the protective insulating layer 323 maybe stacked over the oxide insulating layer.

Thus, the thin film transistor including the oxide semiconductor layercan have stable electric characteristics and high reliability.

Note that this embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combinationwith any of the other embodiments.

Embodiment 8

In this embodiment, an example of thin film transistors which can beapplied to transistors included in the logic circuit and thesemiconductor device disclosed in this specification.

One embodiment of a thin film transistor and a manufacturing method ofthe thin film transistor of this embodiment is described with referenceto FIGS. 13A to 13D.

Although description is given using a single-gate thin film transistoras a thin film transistor 350, a multi-gate thin film transistorincluding a plurality of channel formation regions may be formed asneeded.

A process of manufacturing the thin film transistor 350 over a substrate340 is described below with reference to FIGS. 13A to 13D.

First, after a conductive film is formed over the substrate 340 havingan insulating surface, a gate electrode layer 351 is formed in a firstphotolithography process. In this embodiment, a tungsten film is formedas the gate electrode layer 351 to a thickness of 150 nm.

Then, a gate insulating layer 342 is formed over the gate electrodelayer 351. In this embodiment, a silicon oxynitride layer is formed asthe gate insulating layer 342 to a thickness of smaller than or equal to100 nm with a plasma CVD method.

Next, after a conductive film is formed over the gate insulating layer342, and a second photolithography process is performed. A resist maskis formed and selective etching is performed, so that a source electrodelayer 355 a and a drain electrode layer 355 b are formed. Then, theresist mask is removed (see FIG. 13A).

Then, an oxide semiconductor film 345 is formed (see FIG. 13B). In thisembodiment, the oxide semiconductor film 345 is formed with a sputteringmethod with the use of an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor filmformation target. The oxide semiconductor film 345 is processed into anisland-shaped oxide semiconductor layer in a third photolithographyprocess.

In that case, the oxide semiconductor film 345 is preferably formedremoving moisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is forpreventing hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being containedin the oxide semiconductor film 345.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theoxide semiconductor film 345 formed in the deposition chamber can bereduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide semiconductor film 345 is formed.

Next, the oxide semiconductor layer is subjected to dehydration ordehydrogenation. The temperature of first heat treatment for dehydrationor dehydrogenation is higher than or equal to 400° C. and lower than orequal to 750° C., preferably higher than or equal to 400° C. and lowerthan the strain point of the substrate. Here, the substrate isintroduced into an electric furnace which is one of heat treatmentapparatuses, heat treatment is performed on the oxide semiconductorlayer in a nitrogen atmosphere at 450° C. for one hour, and then, theoxide semiconductor layer is not exposed to the air so that entry ofwater and hydrogen into the oxide semiconductor layer is prevented;thus, an oxide semiconductor layer 346 is obtained (see FIG. 13C).

As the first heat treatment, GRTA may be performed as follows. Thesubstrate is transferred and put in an inert gas which has been heatedto a high temperature of 650° C. to 700° C., heated for several minutes,and transferred and taken out of the inert gas which has been heated toa high temperature. GRTA enables high-temperature heat treatment in ashort time.

An oxide insulating layer 356 which serves as a protective insulatingfilm and is in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer 346 is formed.

The oxide insulating layer 356 can be formed to a thickness of longerthan or equal to 1 nm with a sputtering method or the like asappropriate, which is a method with which an impurity such as water orhydrogen does not enter the oxide insulating layer 356. When hydrogen iscontained in the oxide insulating layer 356, entry of the hydrogen tothe oxide semiconductor layer or extraction of oxygen in the oxidesemiconductor layer by the hydrogen is caused, whereby a backchannel ofthe oxide semiconductor layer comes to have a lower resistance (to ben-type) and thus a parasitic channel might be formed. Therefore, it isimportant that a formation method in which hydrogen is not used isemployed so that the oxide insulating layer 356 is formed containing aslittle hydrogen as possible.

In this embodiment, a silicon oxide film is formed to a thickness of 200nm as the oxide insulating layer 356 with a sputtering method. Thesubstrate temperature in film formation may be higher than or equal toroom temperature and lower than or equal to 300° C. and in thisembodiment, is 100° C. The silicon oxide film can be formed with asputtering method in a rare gas (typically, argon) atmosphere, an oxygenatmosphere, or a mixed atmosphere of a rare gas (typically, argon) andoxygen. Further, a silicon oxide target or a silicon target can be usedas a target. For example, the silicon oxide film can be formed using asilicon target with a sputtering method in an atmosphere containingoxygen and nitrogen. The oxide insulating layer 356 which is formed incontact with the oxide semiconductor layer in a region which is in anoxygen-deficient state and thus has a lower resistance is formed usingan inorganic insulating film that does not contain impurities such asmoisture, a hydrogen ion, and OH⁻ and blocks entry of such impuritiesfrom the outside, typically, a silicon oxide film, a silicon oxynitridefilm, an aluminum oxide film, or an aluminum oxynitride film.

In that case, the oxide insulating layer 356 is preferably formedremoving moisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is forpreventing hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being containedin the oxide semiconductor layer 346 and the oxide insulating layer 356.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theoxide insulating layer 356 formed in the deposition chamber can bereduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide insulating layer 356 is formed.

Next, second heat treatment (preferably 200° C. to 400° C. inclusive,for example, from 250° C. to 350° C. inclusive) is performed in an inertgas atmosphere or an oxygen gas atmosphere. For example, the second heattreatment is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 250° C. for one hour.With the second heat treatment, heat is applied while part of the oxidesemiconductor layer (a channel formation region) is in contact with theoxide insulating layer 356.

Through the above steps, the oxide semiconductor layer which is in anoxygen-deficient state and thus has a lower resistance throughdehydration or dehydrogenation is brought into an oxygen-excess state.As a result, an i-type oxide semiconductor layer 352 having a highresistance is formed. Through the above steps, the thin film transistor350 is formed.

Further, heat treatment may be performed at 100° C. to 200° C. inclusivefor one hour to 30 hours inclusive in the air. In this embodiment, heattreatment is performed at 150° C. for ten hours. This heat treatment maybe performed at a fixed heating temperature. Alternatively, thefollowing change in the heating temperature may be conducted pluraltimes repeatedly: the heating temperature is increased from a roomtemperature to a temperature of 100° C. to 200° C. inclusive and thendecreased to a room temperature. Under a reduced pressure, the heatingtime can be shortened. With this heat treatment, hydrogen is introducedfrom the oxide semiconductor layer to the oxide insulating layer; thus,the thin film transistor can be normally off Therefore, reliability ofthe thin film transistor can be improved.

A protective insulating layer may be additionally formed over the oxideinsulating layer 356. For example, a silicon nitride film is formed withan RF sputtering method. In this embodiment, as the protectiveinsulating layer, a protective insulating layer 343 is formed using asilicon nitride film (see FIG. 13D).

Note that a planarization insulating layer for planarization may beprovided over the protective insulating layer 343.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Thus, the thin film transistor including the oxide semiconductor layercan have stable electric characteristics and high reliability.

Embodiment 9

In this embodiment, an example of thin film transistors which can beapplied to transistors included in the logic circuit and thesemiconductor device disclosed in this specification.

In this embodiment, an example which is partly different from Embodiment6 in the manufacturing process of a thin film transistor will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 14. Since FIG. 14 is the same as FIGS.11A to 11E except for part of the steps, common reference numerals areused for the same portions, and detailed description of the sameportions is omitted.

First, a gate electrode layer 381 is formed over a substrate 370, and afirst gate insulating layer 372 a and a second gate insulating layer 372b are stacked thereover. In this embodiment, a gate insulating layer hasa two layer structure in which a nitride insulating layer and an oxideinsulating layer are used as the first gate insulating layer 372 a andthe second gate insulating layer 372 b, respectively.

As the oxide insulating layer, a silicon oxide layer, a siliconoxynitride layer, an aluminum oxide layer, an aluminum oxynitride layer,or the like may be used. As the nitride insulating layer, a siliconnitride layer, a silicon nitride oxide layer, an aluminum nitride layer,an aluminum nitride oxide layer, or the like may be used.

In this embodiment, the gate insulating layer may have a structure wherea silicon nitride layer and a silicon oxide layer are stacked from thegate electrode layer 381 side. A silicon nitride layer (SiN_(y) (y>0))with a thickness of 50 nm to 200 nm inclusive (50 nm in this embodiment)is formed with a sputtering method as a first gate insulating layer 372a and a silicon oxide layer (SiO_(x) (x>0)) with a thickness of 5 nm to300 nm inclusive (100 nm in this embodiment) is stacked as a second gateinsulating layer 372 b over the first gate insulating layer 372 a; thus,the gate insulating layer with a thickness of 150 nm is formed.

Next, the oxide semiconductor film is formed and then processed into anisland-shaped oxide semiconductor layer in a photolithography process.In this embodiment, the oxide semiconductor film is formed with asputtering method with the use of an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor film formation target.

In that case, the oxide semiconductor film is preferably formed removingmoisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is for preventinghydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being contained in theoxide semiconductor film.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theoxide semiconductor film formed in the deposition chamber can bereduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide semiconductor film is formed.

Next, the oxide semiconductor layer is subjected to dehydration ordehydrogenation. The temperature of first heat treatment for dehydrationor dehydrogenation is higher than or equal to 400° C. and lower than orequal to 750° C., preferably higher than or equal to 425° C. Note thatin the case of the temperature that is 425° C. or more, the heattreatment time may be one hour or less, whereas in the case of thetemperature less than 425° C., the heat treatment time is longer thanone hour. Here, the substrate is introduced into an electric furnacewhich is one of heat treatment apparatuses, heat treatment is performedon the oxide semiconductor layer in a nitrogen atmosphere, and then, theoxide semiconductor layer is not exposed to the air so that entry ofwater and hydrogen into the oxide semiconductor layer is prevented.Thus, the oxide semiconductor layer is obtained. After that, ahigh-purity oxygen gas, a high-purity N₂O gas, or an ultra-dry air (witha dew point of −40° C. or less, preferably −60° C. or less) isintroduced into the same furnace and cooling is performed. It ispreferable that water, hydrogen, and the like be not contained in theoxygen gas or the N₂O gas. Alternatively, the purity of the oxygen gasor the N₂O gas which is introduced into the heat treatment apparatus ispreferably 6N (99.9999%) or more, more preferably 7N (99.99999%) or more(i.e., the impurity concentration of the oxygen gas or the N₂O gas ispreferably 1 ppm or lower, more preferably 0.1 ppm or lower).

Note that the heat treatment apparatus is not limited to the electricfurnace, and for example, may be an RTA (rapid thermal annealing)apparatus such as a GRTA (gas rapid thermal annealing) apparatus or anLRTA (lamp rapid thermal annealing) apparatus. An LRTA apparatus is anapparatus for heating an object to be processed by radiation of light(electromagnetic waves) emitted from a lamp such as a halogen lamp, ametal halide lamp, a xenon arc lamp, a carbon arc lamp, a high pressuresodium lamp, or a high pressure mercury lamp. An LRTA apparatus may beprovided with not only a lamp but also a device for heating an object tobe processed by heat conduction or heat radiation from a heater such asa resistance heater. GRTA is a method for performing heat treatmentusing a high-temperature gas. As the gas, an inert gas which does notreact with an object to be processed with heat treatment, such asnitrogen or a rare gas such as argon is used. Alternatively, the heattreatment may be performed at 600° C. to 750° C. for several minutes byan RTA method.

Moreover, after the first heat treatment for dehydration ordehydrogenation, heat treatment may be performed at from 200° C. to 400°C., preferably from 200° C. to 300° C., in an oxygen gas atmosphere or aN₂O gas atmosphere.

The first heat treatment of the oxide semiconductor layer may beperformed before processing the oxide semiconductor film into theisland-like oxide semiconductor layer. In that case, after the firstheat treatment, the substrate is taken out of the heating apparatus anda photolithography step is performed.

Through the above process, an entire region of the oxide semiconductorlayer is made to be in an oxygen excess state; thus, the oxidesemiconductor layer has higher resistance, that is, the oxidesemiconductor layer becomes i-type. Accordingly, an oxide semiconductorlayer 382 whose entire region is i-type is formed.

Next, a conductive film is formed over the oxide semiconductor layer382, and a photolithography process is performed. A resist mask isformed and etching is performed selectively, whereby a source electrodelayer 385 a and a drain electrode layer 385 b are formed. Then, an oxideinsulating layer 386 is formed with a sputtering method.

In that case, the oxide insulating layer 386 is preferably formedremoving moisture remaining in the treatment chamber. This is forpreventing hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, and moisture from being containedin the oxide semiconductor layer 382 and the oxide insulating layer 386.

In order to remove moisture remaining in the treatment chamber, anentrapment vacuum pump is preferably used. For example, a cryopump, anion pump, or a titanium sublimation pump is preferably used. Further, anevacuation unit may be a turbo pump provided with a cold trap. In thedeposition chamber which is evacuated with the cryopump, a hydrogenatom, a compound containing a hydrogen atom, such as water (H₂O), andthe like are removed, whereby the concentration of an impurity in theoxide insulating layer 386 formed in the deposition chamber can bereduced.

It is preferable to use a high-purity gas from which an impurity such ashydrogen, water, a hydroxyl group, or hydride is removed to aconcentration expressed by a level of ppm or ppb, as a sputtering gasused when the oxide insulating layer 386 is formed.

Through the above steps, a thin film transistor 380 can be formed.

Next, in order to reduce variation in electric characteristics of thethin film transistors, heat treatment (preferably at 150° C. or higherand lower than 350° C.) may be performed in an inert gas atmosphere suchas a nitrogen gas atmosphere. For example, the heat treatment isperformed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 250° C. for one hour.

Further, heat treatment may be performed at 100° C. to 200° C. inclusivefor one hour to 30 hours inclusive in the air. In this embodiment, heattreatment is performed at 150° C. for ten hours. This heat treatment maybe performed at a fixed heating temperature. Alternatively, thefollowing change in the heating temperature may be conducted pluraltimes repeatedly: the heating temperature is increased from a roomtemperature to a temperature of 100° C. to 200° C. inclusive and thendecreased to a room temperature. Under a reduced pressure, the heatingtime can be shortened. With this heat treatment, hydrogen is introducedfrom the oxide semiconductor layer to the oxide insulating layer; thus,the thin film transistor can be normally off Therefore, reliability ofthe thin film transistor can be improved.

A protective insulating layer 373 is formed over the oxide insulatinglayer 386. In this embodiment, the protective insulating layer 373 isformed to a thickness of 100 nm with the use of a silicon nitride filmwith a sputtering method.

The protective insulating layer 373 and the first gate insulating layer372 a each formed using a nitride insulating layer do not containimpurities such as moisture, hydrogen, hydride, and hydroxide and has aneffect of blocking entry of these from the outside.

Therefore, in a manufacturing process after formation of the protectiveinsulating layer 373, entry of an impurity such as moisture from theoutside can be prevented. Further, even after a device is completed as asemiconductor device such as a liquid crystal display device, entry ofan impurity such as moisture from the outside can be prevented in thelong term; therefore, long-term reliability of the device can beachieved.

Further, part of the insulating layers between the protective insulatinglayer 373 formed using a nitride insulating layer and the first gateinsulating layer 372 a may be removed so that the protective insulatinglayer 373 and the first gate insulating layer 372 a are in contact witheach other.

Accordingly, impurities such as moisture, hydrogen, hydride, andhydroxide in the oxide semiconductor layer are reduced as much aspossible and entry of such impurities is prevented, so that theconcentration of impurities in the oxide semiconductor layer can bemaintained to be low.

Note that a planarization insulating layer for planarization may beprovided over the protective insulating layer 373.

Further, a conductive layer may be formed so as to overlap with theoxide semiconductor layer, over the protective insulating layer 373. Apotential of the conductive layer may be the same as or different fromthat of the gate electrode layer 381 of the thin film transistor 380.The conductive layer can also function as a second gate electrode layer.The potential of the conductive layer may be a fixed potential such asGND or 0 V.

Electric characteristics of the thin film transistor 380 can becontrolled by the conductive layer.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Thus, the thin film transistor including the oxide semiconductor layercan have stable electric characteristics and high reliability.

Embodiment 10

An appearance and a cross section of a liquid crystal display panelcorresponding to one mode of a semiconductor device are described withreference to FIGS. 15A to 15C. FIGS. 15A and 15C are plan views ofpanels in each of which thin film transistors 4010 and 4011 and a liquidcrystal element 4013 are sealed between a first substrate 4001 and asecond substrate 4006 with a sealant 4005. FIG. 15B is a cross-sectionalview taken along line M-N in FIG. 15A or 15C.

The sealant 4005 is provided so as to surround a pixel portion 4002 anda scan line driver circuit 4004 which are provided over the firstsubstrate 4001. The second substrate 4006 is provided over the pixelportion 4002 and the scan line driver circuit 4004. Consequently, thepixel portion 4002 and the scan line driver circuit 4004 are sealedtogether with a liquid crystal layer 4008, by the first substrate 4001,the sealant 4005, and the second substrate 4006. A signal line drivercircuit 4003 that is formed using a single crystal semiconductor film ora polycrystalline semiconductor film over a substrate separatelyprepared is mounted in a region that is different from the regionsurrounded by the sealant 4005 over the first substrate 4001.

Note that there is no particular limitation on the connection method ofthe driver circuit which is separately formed, and a COG method, a wirebonding method, a TAB method, or the like can be used. FIG. 15Aillustrates an example in which the signal line driver circuit 4003 ismounted with a COG method. FIG. 15C illustrates an example in which thesignal line driver circuit 4003 is mounted with a TAB method.

The pixel portion 4002 and the scan line driver circuit 4004 providedover the first substrate 4001 include a plurality of thin filmtransistors. FIG. 15B illustrates the thin film transistor 4010 includedin the pixel portion 4002 and the thin film transistor 4011 included inthe scan line driver circuit 4004, as an example. Insulating layers4041, 4042, and 4021 are provided over the thin film transistors 4010and 4011.

Any of the thin film transistors of Embodiments 2 to 9 can be used asappropriate as the thin film transistors 4010 and 4011. Hydrogen orwater is reduced in the oxide semiconductor layers of the thin filmtransistors 4010 and 4011. Thus, the thin film transistors 4010 and 4011are highly reliable thin film transistors. In this embodiment, the thinfilm transistors 4010 and 4011 are n-channel thin film transistors.

A conductive layer 4040 is provided over part of the insulating layer4021, which overlaps with a channel formation region of an oxidesemiconductor layer in the thin film transistor 4011. The conductivelayer 4040 is provided in the position overlapping with the channelformation region of the oxide semiconductor layer, whereby the amount ofchange in threshold voltage of the thin film transistor 4011 before andafter the BT test can be reduced. A potential of the conductive layer4040 may be the same or different from that of a gate electrode layer ofthe thin film transistor 4011. The conductive layer 4040 can alsofunction as a second gate electrode layer. Further, the potential of theconductive layer 4040 may be GND or 0 V, or the conductive layer 4040may be in a floating state.

A pixel electrode layer 4030 included in the liquid crystal element 4013is electrically connected to a source or drain electrode layer of thethin film transistor 4010. A counter electrode layer 4031 of the liquidcrystal element 4013 is formed on the second substrate 4006. A portionwhere the pixel electrode layer 4030, the counter electrode layer 4031,and the liquid crystal layer 4008 overlap with one another correspondsto the liquid crystal element 4013. Note that the pixel electrode layer4030 and the counter electrode layer 4031 are provided with aninsulating layer 4032 and an insulating layer 4033 functioning asalignment films, respectively, and the liquid crystal layer 4008 issandwiched between the electrode layers with the insulating layers 4032and 4033 therebetween.

Note that a light-transmitting substrate can be used as the firstsubstrate 4001 and the second substrate 4006; glass, ceramics, orplastics can be used. The plastic may be a fiberglass-reinforcedplastics (FRP) plate, a polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) film, a polyester film,or an acrylic resin film.

A spacer 4035 is a columnar partition wall obtained by selective etchingof an insulating film, and the columnar spacer is provided in order tocontrol the distance (a cell gap) between the pixel electrode layer 4030and the counter electrode layer 4031. Alternatively, a spherical spacermay be used as the spacer 4035. The counter electrode layer 4031 iselectrically connected to a common potential line formed over thesubstrate where the thin film transistor 4010 is formed. The counterelectrode layer 4031 and the common potential line can be electricallyconnected to each other through conductive particles provided betweenthe pair of substrates using the common connection portion. Note thatthe conductive particles are included in the sealant 4005.

Alternatively, liquid crystal exhibiting a blue phase for which analignment film is unnecessary may be used. A blue phase is one of liquidcrystal phases, which is generated just before a cholesteric phasechanges into an isotropic phase while the temperature of cholestericliquid crystal is increased. Since the blue phase is only generatedwithin a narrow range of temperature, a liquid crystal compositioncontaining a chiral agent at 5 wt % or more is used for the liquidcrystal layer 4008 in order to improve the temperature range. The liquidcrystal composition including liquid crystal exhibiting a blue phase anda chiral agent has a short response time of 1 msec or less and isoptically isotropic; therefore, alignment treatment is not necessary andviewing angle dependence is small. In addition, since an alignment filmdoes not need to be provided and rubbing treatment is unnecessary,electrostatic discharge damage caused by the rubbing treatment can beprevented and defects and damage of the liquid crystal display devicecan be reduced in the manufacturing process. Thus, productivity of theliquid crystal display device can be increased. A thin film transistorformed using an oxide semiconductor layer particularly has a possibilitythat electric characteristics of the thin film transistor may fluctuatesignificantly by the influence of static electricity and deviate fromthe designed range. Therefore, it is more effective to use a blue phaseliquid crystal material for a liquid crystal display device including athin film transistor formed using an oxide semiconductor layer.

Note that this embodiment can also be applied to a transflective liquidcrystal display device in addition to a transmissive liquid crystaldisplay device.

Although a polarizing plate is provided on the outer surface of thesubstrate (on the viewer side) and a coloring layer and an electrodelayer used for a display element are sequentially provided on the innersurface of the substrate in the example of the liquid crystal displaydevice, the polarizing plate may be provided on the inner surface of thesubstrate. The stacked structure of the polarizing plate and thecoloring layer is not limited to that in this embodiment and may be setas appropriate depending on materials of the polarizing plate and thecoloring layer or conditions of the manufacturing process. Further, alight-blocking film serving as a black matrix may be provided in aportion other than the display portion.

Over the thin film transistors 4011 and 4010, the insulating layer 4041is formed in contact with the oxide semiconductor layers. The insulatinglayer 4041 can be formed using a material and a method which are similarto those of the oxide insulating layer described in any of theembodiments. Here, as the insulating layer 4041, a silicon oxide layeris formed with a sputtering method. Further, the protective insulatinglayer 4042 is formed on and in contact with the insulating layer 4041.The protective insulating layer 4042 may be formed similarly to theprotective insulating layer 303 described in Embodiment 6; for example,the protective insulating layer 4042 can be formed using a siliconnitride film. In order to reduce the surface roughness caused by thethin film transistors, the insulating layer 4021 serving as aplanarization insulating layer is formed.

The insulating layer 4021 is formed as a planarization insulating layer.As the insulating layer 4021, an organic material having heat resistancesuch as polyimide, acrylic, benzocyclobutene, polyamide, or epoxy can beused. Other than such organic materials, it is possible to use alow-dielectric constant material (a low-k material), a siloxane-basedresin, PSG (phosphosilicate glass), BPSG (borophosphosilicate glass), orthe like. Note that the insulating layer 4021 may be formed by stackinga plurality of insulating films formed of these materials.

There is no particular limitation on the method for forming theinsulating layer 4021. The insulating layer 4021 can be formed,depending on the material, with a method such as a sputtering method, anSOG method, a spin coating method, a dipping method, a spray coatingmethod, or a droplet discharge method (e.g., an ink-jet method, screenprinting, or offset printing), or a tool (equipment) such as a doctorknife, a roll coater, a curtain coater, or a knife coater. A baking stepof the insulating layer 4021 also serves as annealing of thesemiconductor layer, whereby a semiconductor device can be manufacturedefficiently.

The pixel electrode layer 4030 and the counter electrode layer 4031 canbe formed using a light-transmitting conductive material such as indiumtin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO) in which zinc oxide (ZnO) ismixed in indium oxide, a conductive material in which silicon oxide(SiO₂) is mixed in indium oxide, organic indium, organotin, indium oxidecontaining tungsten oxide, indium zinc oxide containing tungsten oxide,indium oxide containing titanium oxide, indium tin oxide containingtitanium oxide, or the like. Further, in the case where alight-transmitting property is not needed or a reflecting property isneeded in a reflective liquid crystal display device, the pixelelectrode layer 4030 and the counter electrode layer 4031 can be formedusing one or more kinds of materials selected from a metal such astungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), zirconium (Zr), hafnium (HO, vanadium(V), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), nickel(Ni), titanium (Ti), platinum (Pt), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), andsilver (Ag); an alloy of these metals; and a nitride of these metals.

A conductive composition containing a conductive high molecule (alsoreferred to as a conductive polymer) can be used for the pixel electrodelayer 4030 and the counter electrode layer 4031. The pixel electrodeformed using the conductive composition preferably has a sheetresistance of less than or equal to 10000 ohms per square and atransmittance of greater than or equal to 70% at a wavelength of 550 nm.Further, the resistivity of the conductive high molecule contained inthe conductive composition is preferably less than or equal to 0.1 Ω·cm.

As the conductive high molecule, a so-called π-electron conjugatedconductive polymer can be used. For example, polyaniline or a derivativethereof, polypyrrole or a derivative thereof, polythiophene or aderivative thereof, a copolymer of two or more kinds of them, and thelike can be given.

Further, a variety of signals and potentials are supplied to the signalline driver circuit 4003 which is formed separately, the scan linedriver circuit 4004, or the pixel portion 4002 from an FPC 4018.

A connection terminal electrode 4015 is formed using the same conductivefilm as the pixel electrode layer 4030 included in the liquid crystalelement 4013, and a terminal electrode 4016 is formed using the sameconductive film as source and drain electrode layers of the thin filmtransistors 4010 and 4011.

The connection terminal electrode 4015 is electrically connected to aterminal included in the FPC 4018 through an anisotropic conductive film4019.

Note that FIGS. 15A to 15C illustrate examples in each of which thesignal line driver circuit 4003 is formed separately and mounted on thefirst substrate 4001; however, the present invention is not limited tothis structure. The scan line driver circuit may be separately formedand then mounted, or only part of the signal line driver circuit or partof the scan line driver circuit may be separately formed and thenmounted.

A black matrix (a light-blocking layer), an optical member (an opticalsubstrate) such as a polarizing member, a retardation member, or ananti-reflection member, and the like are provided as appropriate. Forexample, circular polarization may be employed by using a polarizingsubstrate and a retardation substrate. In addition, a backlight, asidelight, or the like may be used as a light source.

In an active matrix liquid crystal display device, display patterns areformed on a screen by driving of pixel electrodes that are arranged inmatrix. Specifically, a voltage is applied between a selected pixelelectrode and a counter electrode corresponding to the pixel electrode,and thus, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the pixel electrodeand the counter electrode is optically modulated. This opticalmodulation is recognized as a display pattern by a viewer.

A liquid crystal display device has a problem in that, when displaying amoving image, image sticking occurs or the moving image is blurredbecause the response speed of liquid crystal molecules themselves islow. As a technique for improving moving image characteristics of aliquid crystal display device, there is a driving technique so-calledblack insertion by which an entirely black image is displayed everyother frame.

Alternatively, a driving method called double-frame rate driving may beemployed in which a vertical synchronizing frequency is 1.5 times ormore, preferably 2 times or more as high as a normal verticalsynchronizing frequency, whereby response speed is improved.

Furthermore, as a technique for improving moving image characteristicsof a liquid crystal display device, there is another driving techniquein which, as a backlight, a surface light source including a pluralityof LED (light-emitting diode) light sources or a plurality of EL lightsources is used, and each light source included in the surface lightsource is independently driven so as to perform intermittent lighting inone frame period. As the surface light source, three or more kinds ofLEDs may be used, or a white-light-emitting LED may be used. Since aplurality of LEDs can be controlled independently, the timing at whichthe LEDs emit light can be synchronized with the timing at which opticalmodulation of a liquid crystal layer is switched. In this drivingtechnique, part of LEDs can be turned off. Therefore, especially in thecase of displaying an image in which the proportion of a black imagearea in one screen is high, a liquid crystal display device can bedriven with low power consumption.

When combined with any of these driving techniques, a liquid crystaldisplay device can have better display characteristics such as movingimage characteristics than conventional liquid crystal display devices.

Since the thin film transistor is easily broken due to staticelectricity or the like, the protective circuit is preferably providedover the same substrate as the pixel portion and the driver circuitportion. The protective circuit is preferably formed using a non-linearelement including an oxide semiconductor layer. For example, aprotective circuit is provided between the pixel portion, and a scanline input terminal and a signal line input terminal. In thisembodiment, a plurality of protective circuits are provided so that thepixel transistor and the like are not broken when a surge voltage due tostatic electricity or the like is applied to the scan line, the signalline, or a capacitor bus line. Accordingly, the protective circuit has astructure for releasing charge to a common wiring when a surge voltageis applied to the protective circuit. The protective circuit includesnon-linear elements which are arranged in parallel between the scan lineand the common wiring. Each of the non-linear elements includes atwo-terminal element such as a diode or a three-terminal element such asa transistor. For example, the non-linear element can be formed throughthe same steps as the thin film transistor of the pixel portion. Forexample, characteristics similar to those of a diode can be achieved byconnecting a gate terminal to a drain terminal.

Further, for the liquid crystal display module, a twisted nematic (TN)mode, an in-plane-switching (IPS) mode, a fringe field switching (FFS)mode, an axially symmetric aligned micro-cell (ASM) mode, an opticallycompensated birefringence (OCB) mode, a ferroelectric liquid crystal(FLC) mode, an antiferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC) mode, or the likecan be used.

There is no particular limitation in the semiconductor device disclosedin this specification, and a liquid crystal display device including aTN liquid crystal, an OCB liquid crystal, an STN liquid crystal, a VAliquid crystal, an ECB liquid crystal, a GH liquid crystal, a polymerdispersed liquid crystal, a discotic liquid crystal, or the like can beused. In particular, a normally black liquid crystal panel such as atransmissive liquid crystal display device utilizing a verticalalignment (VA) mode is preferable. Some examples are given as a verticalalignment mode. For example, an MVA (multi-domain vertical alignment)mode, a PVA (patterned vertical alignment) mode, an ASV mode, or thelike can be employed.

Further, this embodiment can also be applied to a VA liquid crystaldisplay device. The VA liquid crystal display device has a kind of formin which alignment of liquid crystal molecules in a liquid crystaldisplay panel is controlled. In the VA liquid crystal display device,liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a vertical direction withrespect to a panel surface when a voltage is not applied. Further, amethod called multi-domain or multi-domain design, by which a pixel isdivided into some regions (subpixels), and liquid crystal molecules arealigned in different directions in their respective regions, can beused.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Embodiment 11

In this embodiment, examples of manufacturing an active-matrixlight-emitting display device by utilizing a thin film transistor andelectroluminescence in the semiconductor device described in Embodiment1 are described.

Light-emitting elements utilizing electroluminescence are classifiedaccording to whether a light-emitting material is an organic compound oran inorganic compound. In general, the former is referred to as anorganic EL element, and the latter is referred to as an inorganic ELelement.

In an organic EL element, by application of voltage to a light-emittingelement, electrons and holes are separately injected from a pair ofelectrodes into a layer containing a light-emitting organic compound,and current flows. Then, the carriers (electrons and holes) recombine,thereby emitting light. Owing to such a mechanism, this light-emittingelement is referred to as a current-excitation light-emitting element.

The inorganic EL elements are classified according to their elementstructures into a dispersion-type inorganic EL element and a thin-filminorganic EL element. A dispersion-type inorganic EL element has alight-emitting layer where particles of a light-emitting material aredispersed in a binder, and its light emission mechanism isdonor-acceptor recombination type light emission that utilizes a donorlevel and an acceptor level. A thin-film inorganic EL element has astructure where a light-emitting layer is sandwiched between dielectriclayers, which are further sandwiched between electrodes, and its lightemission mechanism is localized type light emission that utilizesinner-shell electron transition of metal ions. Note that an example ofan organic EL element as a light-emitting element is described here.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a pixel structure to which digitaltime grayscale driving can be applied, as an example of a semiconductordevice.

A structure and operation of a pixel to which digital time grayscaledriving can be applied are described. Here, one pixel includes twon-channel transistors each of which includes an oxide semiconductorlayer as a channel formation region.

A pixel 6400 includes a switching transistor 6401, a driving transistor6402, a light-emitting element 6404, and a capacitor 6403. A gate of theswitching transistor 6401 is connected to a scan line 6406, a firstelectrode (one of a source electrode and a drain electrode) of theswitching transistor 6401 is connected to a signal line 6405, and asecond electrode (the other of the source electrode and the drainelectrode) of the switching transistor 6401 is connected to a gate ofthe driving transistor 6402. The gate of the driving transistor 6402 isconnected to a power supply line 6407 through the capacitor 6403, afirst electrode of the driving transistor 6402 is connected to the powersupply line 6407, and a second electrode of the driving transistor 6402is connected to a first electrode (pixel electrode) of thelight-emitting element 6404. A second electrode of the light-emittingelement 6404 corresponds to a common electrode. The common electrode iselectrically connected to a common potential line 6408 provided over thesame substrate as the common electrode.

The second electrode (common electrode) of the light-emitting element6404 is set to a low power supply potential. Note that the low powersupply potential is a potential satisfying the low power supplypotential <a high power supply potential with reference to the highpower supply potential that is set to the power supply line 6407. As thelow power supply potential, GND, 0 V, or the like may be employed, forexample. A potential difference between the high power supply potentialand the low power supply potential is applied to the light-emittingelement 6404 and current is supplied to the light-emitting element 6404,so that the light-emitting element 6404 emits light. Here, in order tomake the light-emitting element 6404 emit light, each potential is setso that the potential difference between the high power supply potentialand the low power supply potential is the threshold voltage of thelight-emitting element 6404 or higher.

When the gate capacitance of the driving transistor 6402 is used as asubstitute for the capacitor 6403, the capacitor 6403 can be omitted.The gate capacitance of the driving transistor 6402 may be formedbetween a channel formation region and a gate electrode.

Here, in the case of using a voltage-input voltage driving method, avideo signal is input to the gate of the driving transistor 6402 to makethe driving transistor 6402 completely turn on or off That is, thedriving transistor 6402 operates in a linear region. Since the drivingtransistor 6402 operates in a linear region, a voltage higher than thevoltage of the power supply line 6407 is applied to the gate of thedriving transistor 6402. Note that a voltage greater than or equal to(power supply line voltage+V_(th) of the driving transistor 6402) isapplied to the signal line 6405.

Further, in the case of using analog grayscale driving instead of thedigital time ratio grayscale driving, the pixel structure the same asthat of FIG. 16 can be employed by inputting signals in a different way.

In the case of using the analog grayscale method, a voltage greater thanor equal to (forward voltage of the light-emitting element 6404+V_(th)of the driving transistor 6402) is applied to the gate of the drivingtransistor 6402. The forward voltage of the light-emitting element 6404indicates a voltage at which a desired luminance is obtained andincludes at least the forward threshold voltage. By inputting a videosignal to enable the driving transistor 6402 to operate in a saturationregion, current can be supplied to the light-emitting element 6404. Inorder that the driving transistor 6402 can operate in the saturationregion, the potential of the power supply line 6407 is made higher thana gate potential of the driving transistor 6402. When an analog videosignal is used, it is possible to feed current to the light-emittingelement 6404 in accordance with the video signal and perform analoggrayscale driving.

Note that the pixel structure illustrated in FIG. 16 is not limitedthereto. For example, a switch, a resistor, a capacitor, a transistor, alogic circuit, or the like may be added to the pixel shown in FIG. 16.

Next, structures of the light-emitting element will be described withreference to FIGS. 17A to 17C. Here, a cross-sectional structure of apixel will be described by taking an n-channel driving TFT as anexample.

In order to extract light emitted from the light-emitting element, atleast one of an anode and a cathode is required to transmit light. Athin film transistor and a light-emitting element are formed over asubstrate. The light-emitting element can have a top emission structurein which light emission is extracted through a surface opposite to thesubstrate; a bottom emission structure in which light emission isextracted through a surface on the substrate side; or a dual emissionstructure in which light emission is extracted through the surfaceopposite to the substrate and the surface on the substrate side. Thepixel structure can be applied to a light-emitting element having any ofthese emission structures.

Next, a light-emitting element having a bottom emission structure isdescribed with reference to FIG. 17A.

FIG. 17A is a cross-sectional view of a pixel of the case where adriving TFT 7011 is of an n-type and light is emitted from alight-emitting element 7012 to a first electrode 7013 side. In FIG. 17A,the first electrode 7013 of the light-emitting element 7012 is formedover a light-transmitting conductive film 7017 which is electricallyconnected to a drain electrode layer of the driving TFT 7011, and an ELlayer 7014 and a second electrode 7015 are stacked in the orderpresented, over the first electrode 7013.

As the light-transmitting conductive film 7017, a light-transmittingconductive film of indium oxide including tungsten oxide, indium zincoxide including tungsten oxide, indium oxide including titanium oxide,indium tin oxide including titanium oxide, indium tin oxide, indium zincoxide, indium tin oxide to which silicon oxide is added, or the like canbe used.

A variety of materials can be used for the first electrode 7013 of thelight-emitting element. For example, in the case where the firstelectrode 7013 is used as a cathode, the first electrode 7013 ispreferably formed using, for example, a material having a low workfunction such as an alkali metal such as Li or Cs; an alkaline earthmetal such as Mg, Ca, or Sr; an alloy containing any of these metals(e.g., Mg:Ag or Al:Li); or a rare earth metal such as Yb or Er. In FIG.17A, the first electrode 7013 is approximately formed to a thicknesssuch that light is transmitted (preferably, approximately 5 nm to 30nm). For example, an aluminum film having a thickness of 20 nm is usedfor the first electrode 7013.

Note that the light-transmitting conductive film 7017 and the firstelectrode 7013 may be formed by stacking a light-transmitting conductivefilm and an aluminum film and then performing selective etching. In thiscase, the etching can be performed using the same mask, which ispreferable.

Further, the periphery of the first electrode 7013 is covered with apartition wall 7019. The partition wall 7019 is formed using an organicresin film of polyimide, acrylic, polyamide, epoxy, or the like; aninorganic insulating film; or organic polysiloxane. It is particularlypreferable that the partition wall 7019 be formed using a photosensitiveresin material to have an opening over the first electrode 7013 so thata sidewall of the opening is formed to have an inclined surface withcontinuous curvature. In the case where a photosensitive resin materialis used for the partition wall 7019, a step of forming a resist mask canbe omitted.

As the EL layer 7014 formed over the first electrode 7013 and thepartition wall 7019, an EL layer including at least a light-emittinglayer is acceptable. Further, the EL layer 7014 may be formed to haveeither a single-layer structure or a stacked-layer structure. When theEL layer 7014 is formed using a plurality of layers, anelectron-injection layer, an electron-transport layer, a light-emittinglayer, a hole-transport layer, and a hole-injection layer are stacked inthe order presented over the first electrode 7013 functioning as acathode. Note that not all of these layers need to be provided exceptfor the light-emitting layer.

The stacking order is not limited to the order presented above. Thefirst electrode 7013 may serve as an anode, and a hole-injection layer,a hole-transport layer, a light-emitting layer, an electron-transportlayer, and an electron-injection layer may be stacked in the orderpresented over the first electrode 7013. However, considering powerconsumption, it is preferable that the first electrode 7013 serve as acathode and an electron-injection layer, an electron-transport layer, alight-emitting layer, a hole-transport layer, and a hole-injection layerbe stacked in the order presented over the first electrode 7013 becausean increase in voltage of a driver circuit portion can be prevented andpower consumption can be reduced more effectively than in the case wherethe first electrode 7013 is used as the anode and the hole-injectionlayer, the hole-transport layer, the light-emitting layer, theelectron-transport layer, and the electron-injection layer are stackedin this order over the first electrode 7013.

Further, any of a variety of materials can be used for the secondelectrode 7015 formed over the EL layer 7014. For example, in the casewhere the second electrode 7015 is used as an anode, a material having ahigh work function, for example, ZrN, Ti, W, Ni, Pt, Cr, or the like; ora transparent conductive material such as ITO, IZO, or ZnO ispreferable. Further, a shielding film 7016, for example, a metal whichblocks light, a metal which reflects light, or the like is provided overthe second electrode 7015. In this embodiment, an ITO film is used asthe second electrode 7015, and a Ti film is used as the shielding film7016.

The light-emitting element 7012 corresponds to a region where the ELlayer 7014 including the light-emitting layer is sandwiched between thefirst electrode 7013 and the second electrode 7015. In the case of theelement structure illustrated in FIG. 17A, light emitted from thelight-emitting element 7012 is ejected to the first electrode 7013 sideas indicated by an arrow.

Note that in the example illustrated in FIG. 17A, a light-transmittingconductive film is used as a gate electrode layer and a thinlight-transmitting film is used as source and drain electrode layers.Light emitted from the light-emitting element 7012 passes through acolor filter layer 7033, and can be ejected through the substrate.

The color filter layer 7033 is formed with a droplet discharge methodsuch as an ink-jet method, a printing method, an etching method with theuse of a photolithography technique, or the like.

The color filter layer 7033 is covered with the overcoat layer 7034, andalso covered with the protective insulating layer 7035. Note thatalthough the overcoat layer 7034 with a small thickness is illustratedin FIG. 17A, the overcoat layer 7034 has a function to planarizeroughness due to the color filter layer 7033.

A contact hole which is formed in the protective insulating layer 7035,the overcoat layer 7034, a planarization insulating layer 7036, theinsulating layer 7032, and the insulating layer 7031, and which reachesthe drain electrode layer is provided in a portion which overlaps withthe partition wall 7019.

A light-emitting element having a dual emission structure is describedwith reference to FIG. 17B.

In FIG. 17B, a first electrode 7023 of a light-emitting element 7022 isformed over a light-transmitting conductive film 7027 which iselectrically connected to a drain electrode layer of the driving TFT7021, and an EL layer 7024 and a second electrode 7025 are stacked inthe order presented over the first electrode 7023.

As the light-transmitting conductive film 7027, a light-transmittingconductive film of indium oxide including tungsten oxide, indium zincoxide including tungsten oxide, indium oxide including titanium oxide,indium tin oxide including titanium oxide, indium tin oxide, indium zincoxide, indium tin oxide to which silicon oxide is added, or the like canbe used.

A variety of materials can be used for the first electrode 7023. Forexample, in the case where the first electrode 7023 is used as acathode, the first electrode 7023 is preferably formed using, forexample, a material having a low work function such as an alkali metalsuch as Li or Cs; an alkaline earth metal such as Mg, Ca, or Sr; analloy containing any of these metals (e.g., Mg:Ag or Al:Li); or a rareearth metal such as Yb or Er. In this embodiment, the first electrode7023 is used as a cathode, and the first electrode 7023 is approximatelyformed to a thickness such that light is transmitted (preferably,approximately 5 nm to 30 nm). For example, an aluminum layer having athickness of 20 nm is used as the cathode.

Note that the light-transmitting conductive film 7027 and the firstelectrode 7023 may be formed by stacking the light-transmittingconductive film and the aluminum film and then performing selectiveetching. In this case, the etching can be performed using the same mask,which is preferable.

Further, the periphery of the first electrode 7023 is covered with apartition wall 7029. The partition wall 7029 is formed using an organicresin film of polyimide, acrylic, polyamide, epoxy, or the like; aninorganic insulating film; or organic polysiloxane. It is particularlypreferable that the partition wall 7029 be formed using a photosensitiveresin material to have an opening over the first electrode 7023 so thata sidewall of the opening is formed to have an inclined surface withcontinuous curvature. In the case where a photosensitive resin materialis used for the partition wall 7029, a step of forming a resist mask canbe omitted.

As the EL layer 7024 formed over the first electrode 7023 and thepartition wall 7029, an EL layer including a light-emitting layer isacceptable. Further, the EL layer 7024 may be formed to have either asingle-layer structure or a stacked-layer structure. When the EL layer7024 is formed using a plurality of layers, an electron-injection layer,an electron-transport layer, a light-emitting layer, a hole-transportlayer, and a hole-injection layer are stacked in the order presentedover the first electrode 7023 functioning as a cathode. Note that notall of these layers need to be provided except for the light-emittinglayer.

The stacking order is not limited to the order presented above. Thefirst electrode 7023 may serve as an anode and a hole-injection layer, ahole-transport layer, a light-emitting layer, an electron-transportlayer, and an electron-injection layer may be stacked in the orderpresented over the first electrode 7023. However, considering powerconsumption, it is preferable that the first electrode 7023 is used as acathode and an electron-injection layer, an electron-transport layer, alight-emitting layer, a hole-transport layer, and a hole-injection layerbe stacked in the order presented over the cathode because powerconsumption can be reduced more effectively than in the case where thefirst electrode 7023 is used as the anode and the hole-injection layer,the hole-transport layer, the light-emitting layer, theelectron-transport layer, and the electron-injection layer are stackedin this order over the first electrode 7023.

Further, a variety of materials can be used for the second electrode7025 formed over the EL layer 7024. For example, in the case where thesecond electrode 7025 is used as an anode, a material having a high workfunction, for example, a transparent conductive material such as ITO,IZO, or ZnO is preferable. In this embodiment, the second electrode 7025is formed using an ITO layer including silicon oxide and is used as ananode.

The light-emitting element 7022 corresponds to a region where the ELlayer 7024 including the light-emitting layer is sandwiched between thefirst electrode 7023 and the second electrode 7025. In the case of theelement structure illustrated in FIG. 17B, light emitted from thelight-emitting element 7022 is ejected to both the second electrode 7025side and the first electrode 7023 side as indicated by arrows.

Note that in the example illustrated in FIG. 17B, a light-transmittingconductive film is used as a gate electrode layer and a thinlight-transmitting film is used as source and drain electrode layers.Light emitted from the light-emitting element 7022 to the firstelectrode 7023 side passes through a color filter layer 7043, and can beejected through the substrate.

The color filter layer 7043 is formed with a droplet discharge methodsuch as an ink-jet method, a printing method, an etching method with theuse of a photolithography technique, or the like.

The color filter layer 7043 is covered with the overcoat layer 7044, andalso covered with the protective insulating layer 7045.

A contact hole which is formed in the protective insulating layer 7045,the overcoat layer 7044, a planarization insulating layer 7046, theinsulating layer 7042, and the insulating layer 7041, and which reachesthe drain electrode layer is provided in a portion which overlaps withthe partition wall 7019.

Note that in the case where full-color display is realized on bothdisplay surfaces by using a light-emitting element having a dualemission structure, light emitted from the second electrode 7025 sidedoes not pass through the color filter layer 7043; therefore, it ispreferable that a sealing substrate having a color filter layer befurther provided over the second electrode 7025.

Next, a light-emitting element having a top emission structure isdescribed with reference to FIG. 17C.

FIG. 17C is a cross-sectional view of a pixel of the case where adriving TFT 7001 is of an n-type and light emitted from a light-emittingelement 7002 passes through a second electrode 7005. In FIG. 17C, adrain electrode layer of the driving TFT 7001 and a first electrode 7003are in contact with each other, and the driving TFT 7001 and the firstelectrode 7003 of the light-emitting element 7002 are electricallyconnected to each other. An EL layer 7004 and the second electrode 7005are stacked over the first electrode 7003 in the order presented.

Further, a variety of materials can be used for the first electrode7003. For example, in the case where the first electrode 7003 is used asa cathode, the first electrode 7003 is preferably formed using amaterial having a low work function such as an alkali metal such as Lior Cs; an alkaline earth metal such as Mg, Ca, or Sr; an alloycontaining any of these metals (e.g., Mg:Ag or Al:Li); or a rare earthmetal such as Yb or Er.

Further, the periphery of the first electrode 7003 is covered with apartition wall 7009. The partition wall 7009 is formed using an organicresin film of polyimide, acrylic, polyamide, epoxy, or the like; aninorganic insulating film; or organic polysiloxane. It is particularlypreferable that the partition wall 7009 be formed using a photosensitiveresin material to have an opening over the first electrode 7003 so thata sidewall of the opening is formed to have an inclined surface withcontinuous curvature. In the case where a photosensitive resin materialis used for the partition wall 7009, a step of forming a resist mask canbe omitted.

As the EL layer 7004 formed over the first electrode 7003 and thepartition wall 7009, an EL layer including at least a light-emittinglayer is acceptable. Further, the EL layer 7004 may be formed to haveeither a single-layer structure or a stacked-layer structure. When theEL layer 7004 is formed using a plurality of layers, anelectron-injection layer, an electron-transport layer, a light-emittinglayer, a hole-transport layer, and a hole-injection layer are stacked inthe order presented over the first electrode 7003 used as a cathode.Note that not all of these layers need to be provided except for thelight-emitting layer.

The stacking order is not limited to the order presented above, and ahole-injection layer, a hole-transport layer, a light-emitting layer, anelectron-transport layer, and an electron-injection layer may be stackedin the order presented over the first electrode 7003 used as an anode.

In FIG. 17C, a hole-injection layer, a hole-transport layer, alight-emitting layer, an electron-transport layer, and anelectron-injection layer are stacked in the order presented over astacked-layer film in which a Ti film, an aluminum film, and a Ti filmare stacked in the order presented, and thereover, a stacked layer of athin Mg:Ag alloy film and ITO is formed.

However, in the case where the driving TFT 7001 is of an n-type, it ispreferable that an electron-injection layer, an electron-transportlayer, a light-emitting layer, a hole-transport layer, and ahole-injection layer be stacked in the order presented over the firstelectrode 7003 because an increase in voltage of a driver circuit can beprevented and power consumption can be reduced more effectively than inthe case of using the layers stacked in the above order.

The second electrode 7005 is formed using a light-transmittingconductive material. For example, a light-transmitting conductive filmof indium oxide including tungsten oxide, indium zinc oxide includingtungsten oxide, indium oxide including titanium oxide, indium tin oxideincluding titanium oxide, indium tin oxide, indium zinc oxide, or indiumtin oxide to which silicon oxide is added, or the like can be used.

The light-emitting element 7002 corresponds to a region where the ELlayer 7004 including the light-emitting layer is sandwiched between thefirst electrode 7003 and the second electrode 7005. In the case of thepixel illustrated in FIG. 17C, light emitted from the light-emittingelement 7002 is ejected to the second electrode 7005 side as indicatedby an arrow.

In FIG. 17C, the drain electrode layer of the driving TFT 7001 iselectrically connected to the first electrode 7003 through a contacthole formed in a silicon oxide layer 7051, a protective insulating layer7052, a planarization insulating layer 7056, a planarization insulatinglayer 7053, and an insulating layer 7055. The planarization insulatinglayers 7036, 7046, 7053, and 7056 can be formed using a resin materialsuch as polyimide, acrylic, benzocyclobutene, polyamide, or epoxy. Otherthan such resin materials, it is also possible to use a low-dielectricconstant material (low-k material), a siloxane-based resin,phosphosilicate glass (PSG), borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG), or thelike. Note that the planarization insulating layers 7036, 7046, 7053,and 7056 may be formed by stacking a plurality of insulating filmsformed using these materials. The planarization insulating layers 7036,7046, 7053, and 7056 can be formed, depending on the material, with amethod such as a sputtering method, an SOG method, a spin coatingmethod, a dipping method, a spray coating method, or a droplet dischargemethod (e.g., an ink-jet method, screen printing, or offset printing),or a tool (equipment) such as a doctor knife, a roll coater, a curtaincoater, or a knife coater.

The partition wall 7009 is provided in order to insulate the firstelectrode 7003 from a first electrode of an adjacent pixel. Thepartition wall 7009 is formed using an organic resin film of polyimide,acrylic, polyamide, epoxy, or the like; an inorganic insulating film; ororganic polysiloxane. It is particularly preferable that the partitionwall 7009 be formed using a photosensitive resin material to have anopening over the first electrode 7003 so that a sidewall of the openingis formed as an inclined surface with continuous curvature. In the casewhere a photosensitive resin material is used for the partition wall7009, a step of forming a resist mask can be omitted.

In the structure illustrated in FIG. 17C, for performing full-colordisplay, the light-emitting element 7002, one of adjacent light-emittingelements, and the other of the adjacent light-emitting elements are, forexample, a green emissive light-emitting element, a red emissivelight-emitting element, and a blue emissive light-emitting element,respectively. Alternatively, a light-emitting display device capable offull color display may be manufactured using four kinds oflight-emitting elements which include a white light-emitting element inaddition to three kinds of light-emitting elements.

In the structure of FIG. 17C, a light-emitting display device capable offull color display may be manufactured in such a way that all of aplurality of light-emitting elements which is arranged is whitelight-emitting elements and a sealing substrate having a color filter orthe like is arranged on the light-emitting element 7002. A materialwhich exhibits a single color such as white is formed and combined witha color filter or a color conversion layer, whereby full color displaycan be performed.

Needless to say, display of monochromatic light can also be performed.For example, a lighting system may be formed with the use of white lightemission, or an area-color light-emitting device may be formed with theuse of a single color light emission.

If necessary, an optical film such as a polarizing film including acircularly polarizing plate may be provided.

Note that, although the organic EL elements are described here as thelight-emitting elements, an inorganic EL element can also be provided asa light-emitting element.

Note that the example is described in which a thin film transistor (adriving TFT) which controls the driving of a light-emitting element iselectrically connected to the light-emitting element; however, astructure may be employed in which a TFT for current control isconnected between the driving TFT and the light-emitting element.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate an appearance and a cross section of alight-emitting display panel (also referred to as a light-emittingpanel) according to this embodiment. FIG. 18A is a plan view of a panelin which a thin film transistor and a light-emitting element that areformed over a first substrate are sealed between the first substrate anda second substrate with a sealant. FIG. 18B is a cross-sectional viewtaken along H-I in FIG. 18A.

A sealant 4505 is provided to surround a pixel portion 4502, signal linedriver circuits 4503 a and 4503 b, and scan line driver circuits 4504 aand 4504 b which are provided over a first substrate 4501. In addition,a second substrate 4506 is provided over the pixel portion 4502, thesignal line driver circuits 4503 a and 4503 b, and the scan line drivercircuits 4504 a and 4504 b. Accordingly, the pixel portion 4502, thesignal line driver circuits 4503 a and 4503 b, and the scan line drivercircuits 4504 a and 4504 b are sealed together with a filler 4507, bythe first substrate 4501, the sealant 4505, and the second substrate4506. It is preferable that a panel be packaged (sealed) with aprotective film (such as a laminate film or an ultraviolet curable resinfilm) or a cover material with high air-tightness and littledegasification so that the panel is not exposed to the outside air, inthis manner.

The pixel portion 4502, the signal line driver circuits 4503 a and 4503b, and the scan line driver circuits 4504 a and 4504 b, which are formedover the first substrate 4501, each include a plurality of thin filmtransistors. A thin film transistor 4510 included in the pixel portion4502 and a thin film transistor 4509 included in the signal line drivercircuit 4503 a are illustrated as an example in FIG. 18B.

Any of the thin film transistors of the embodiments 2 to 9 can be usedas appropriate as the thin film transistors 4509 and 4510, and they canbe formed using steps and materials similar to those for the thin filmtransistors of the embodiments. Hydrogen or water is reduced in theoxide semiconductor layers of the thin film transistors 4509 and 4510.Thus, the thin film transistors 4509 and 4510 are highly reliable thinfilm transistors.

A conductive layer is provided over a portion overlapping with thechannel formation region of the oxide semiconductor layer in the thinfilm transistor 4509. In this embodiment, the thin film transistors 4509and 4510 are n-channel thin film transistors.

The conductive layer 4540 is provided over part of an oxide siliconlayer 4542, which overlaps with the channel formation region of theoxide semiconductor layer in the thin film transistor 4509. Theconductive layer 4540 is provided at the position overlapping with thechannel formation region of the oxide semiconductor layer, whereby theamount of change in threshold voltage of the thin film transistor 4509before and after the BT test can be reduced. A potential of theconductive layer 4540 may be the same or different from that of a gateelectrode layer in the thin film transistor 4509. The conductive layer4540 can also function as a second gate electrode layer. Alternatively,the potential of the conductive layer 4540 may be GND or 0 V, or theconductive layer 4540 may be in a floating state.

Further, the silicon oxide layer 4542 is formed to cover the oxidesemiconductor layer of the thin film transistor 4510. The source ordrain electrode layer of the thin film transistor 4510 is electricallyconnected to a wiring layer 4550 in an opening formed in the siliconoxide layer 4542 and an insulating layer 4551 which are formed over thethin film transistor. The wiring layer 4550 is formed in contact with afirst electrode 4517, and the thin film transistor 4510 is electricallyconnected to the first electrode 4517 through the wiring layer 4550.

The silicon oxide layer 4542 may be formed using a material and a methodsimilar to those of the oxide insulating layer described in any of theembodiments.

A color filter layer 4545 is formed over the insulating layer 4551 so asto overlap with a light-emitting region of a light-emitting element4511.

Further, in order to reduce the surface roughness of the color filterlayer 4545, the color filter layer 4545 is covered with an overcoatlayer 4543 functioning as a planarization insulating film.

An insulating layer 4544 is formed over the overcoat layer 4543. Theinsulating layer 4544 may be formed similarly to the protectiveinsulating layer 303 described in Embodiment 6. For example, as theinsulating layer 4544, a silicon nitride layer may be formed with asputtering method, for example.

Reference numeral 4511 denotes a light-emitting element. The firstelectrode 4517 which is a pixel electrode included in the light-emittingelement 4511 is electrically connected to a source electrode layer or adrain electrode layer of the thin film transistor 4510, through thewiring layer 4550. Note that the light-emitting element 4511 has astacked-layer structure of the first electrode 4517, anelectroluminescent layer 4512, and a second electrode 4513, and there isno particular limitation on the structure. The structure of thelight-emitting element 4511 can be changed as appropriate depending onthe direction in which light is extracted from the light-emittingelement 4511, or the like.

A partition wall 4520 is formed using an organic resin film, aninorganic insulating film, or organic polysiloxane. It is particularlypreferable that the partition wall 4520 be formed using a photosensitivematerial to have an opening portion over the first electrode 4517 sothat a sidewall of the opening portion is formed as a tilted surfacewith continuous curvature.

The electroluminescent layer 4512 may be formed to have either asingle-layer structure or a stacked-layer structure.

In order to prevent entry of oxygen, hydrogen, moisture, carbon dioxide,or the like into the light-emitting element 4511, a protective film maybe formed over the second electrode 4513 and the partition wall 4520. Asthe protective film, a silicon nitride film, a silicon nitride oxidefilm, a DLC film, or the like can be formed.

In addition, a variety of signals and potentials are supplied to thesignal line driver circuits 4503 a and 4503 b, the scan line drivercircuits 4504 a and 4504 b, or the pixel portion 4502 from FPCs 4518 aand 4518 b.

A connection terminal electrode 4515 is formed using the same conductivefilm as the first electrode 4517 included in the light-emitting element4511, and a terminal electrode 4516 is formed using the same conductivefilm as the source and drain electrode layers included in the thin filmtransistor 4509.

The connection terminal electrode 4515 is electrically connected to aterminal included in the FPC 4518 a through an anisotropic conductivefilm 4519.

The second substrate located in the direction in which light isextracted from the light-emitting element 4511 should have alight-transmitting property. In that case, a light-transmitting materialsuch as a glass plate, a plastic plate, a polyester film, or an acrylicfilm is used for the second substrate 4506.

As the filler 4507, an ultraviolet curable resin or a thermosettingresin can be used, as well as an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon.For example, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), acrylic, polyimide, an epoxyresin, a silicone resin, PVB (polyvinyl butyral), or EVA (ethylene vinylacetate) can be used. For example, nitrogen is used for the filler.

In addition, if needed, an optical film, such as a polarizing plate, acircularly polarizing plate (including an elliptically polarizingplate), or a retardation plate (a quarter-wave plate or a half-waveplate) may be provided as appropriate on a light-emitting surface of thelight-emitting element. Further, the polarizing plate or the circularlypolarizing plate may be provided with an anti-reflection film. Forexample, anti-glare treatment by which reflected light can be diffusedby projections and depressions on the surface to reduce the glare can beperformed.

The sealant can be formed using a screen printing method, an ink-jetapparatus, or a dispensing apparatus. As the sealant, typically, amaterial containing a visible light curable resin, an ultravioletcurable resin, or a thermosetting resin can be used. Further, a fillermay be contained.

As the signal line driver circuits 4503 a and 4503 b and the scan linedriver circuits 4504 a and 4504 b, driver circuits formed using a singlecrystal semiconductor film or a polycrystalline semiconductor film overa substrate separately prepared may be used and mounted. Alternatively,only the signal line driver circuits or a part thereof, or only the scanline driver circuits or a part thereof may be separately formed andmounted. This embodiment is not limited to the structure illustrated inFIGS. 18A and 18B.

Through the above process, a highly reliable light-emitting displaydevice (display panel) as a semiconductor device can be manufactured.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Embodiment 12

In this embodiment, an example of electronic paper is described as asemiconductor device according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 19 illustrates an active matrix electronic paper as an example of asemiconductor device to which an embodiment of the present invention isapplied. In this embodiment, the thin film transistor described inEmbodiment 5 is used as a thin film transistor 581, for example.Hydrogen or water is reduced in the oxide semiconductor layer of thethin film transistor 581. Thus, the thin film transistor 581 is a highlyreliable thin film transistor.

The electronic paper in FIG. 19 is an example of a display device usinga twisting ball display system. The twisting ball display system refersto a system in which spherical particles each colored in black and whiteare arranged between a first electrode layer and a second electrodelayer which are electrode layers used for a display element, and apotential difference is generated between the first electrode layer andthe second electrode layer to control orientation of the sphericalparticles, so that display is performed.

The thin film transistor 581 formed over a substrate 580 has abottom-gate structure in which source and drain electrode layers areelectrically connected to a first electrode layer 587 through an openingformed in a silicon oxide layer 583, a protective insulating layer 584and an insulating layer 585.

Between the first electrode layer 587 and the second electrode layer588, spherical particles are provided. Each spherical particle includesa black region 590 a and a white region 590 b, and a cavity 594 filledwith liquid around the black region 590 a and the white region 590 b.The circumference of the spherical particle is filled with a filler 595such as a resin (see FIG. 19). In this embodiment, the first electrodelayer 587 corresponds to a pixel electrode and the second electrodelayer 588 provided on a counter substrate 596 corresponds to a commonelectrode.

Further, instead of the spherical element, an electrophoretic elementcan also be used. A microcapsule having a diameter of about 10 μm to 200μm in which transparent liquid, positively charged white microparticles,and negatively charged black microparticles are encapsulated, is used.In the microcapsule provided between the first electrode layer and thesecond electrode layer, when an electric field is applied by the firstelectrode layer and the second electrode layer, the white microparticlesand the black microparticles move in opposite directions to each other,so that white or black can be displayed. A display element using thisprinciple is an electrophoretic display element, and is calledelectronic paper in general. The electrophoretic display element hashigher reflectance than a liquid crystal display element, and thus, anauxiliary light is unnecessary, power consumption is low, and a displayportion can be recognized in a dim place. In addition, even when poweris not supplied to the display portion, an image which has beendisplayed once can be maintained. Accordingly, a displayed image can bestored even if a semiconductor device having a display function (whichmay be referred to simply as a display device or a semiconductor deviceprovided with a display device) is distanced from an electric wavesource.

Through the above steps, highly reliable electronic paper can bemanufactured as a semiconductor device.

The logic circuit described in Embodiment 1 can be used for, forexample, a driver circuit of the electronic paper in this embodiment.Further, since a transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer canbe applied to a transistor in the display portion, the driver circuitand the display portion can be provided over one substrate, for example.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with anyof the other embodiments.

Embodiment 13

The semiconductor devices disclosed in this specification can be appliedto a variety of electronic devices (including an amusement machine inits category). Examples of electronic devices include a television set(also referred to as a television or a television receiver), a monitorof a computer or the like, a digital camera, a digital video camera, adigital photo frame, a mobile phone (also referred to as a mobile phonedevice), a portable game machine, a portable information terminal, anaudio reproducing device, a large game machine such as a pinballmachine, and the like.

FIG. 20A illustrates an example of a mobile phone. A mobile phone 1600is provided with a display portion 1602 incorporated in a housing 1601,operation buttons 1603 a and 1603 b, an external connection port 1604, aspeaker 1605, a microphone 1606, and the like.

When the display portion 1602 of the mobile phone 1600 illustrated inFIG. 20A is touched with a finger or the like, data can be input intothe mobile phone 1600. Further, operations such as making a call andcomposing a mail can be performed by touching the display portion 1602with a finger or the like.

There are mainly three screen modes of the display portion 1602. Thefirst mode is a display mode mainly for displaying an image. The secondmode is an input mode mainly for inputting data such as text. The thirdmode is a display-and-input mode in which two modes of the display modeand the input mode are combined.

For example, in the case of making a call or composing a mail, a textinput mode mainly for inputting text is selected for the display portion1602 so that text displayed on a screen can be input. In this case, itis preferable to display a keyboard or number buttons on almost all areaof the screen of the display portion 1602.

When a detection device including a sensor for detecting inclination,such as a gyroscope or an acceleration sensor, is provided inside themobile phone 1600, display of the screen on the display portion 1602 canbe automatically switched by determining the direction of the mobilephone 1600 (whether the mobile phone 1600 is placed horizontally orvertically for a landscape mode or a portrait mode).

The screen modes are switched by touching the display portion 1602 oroperating the operation buttons 1603 a and 1603 b of the housing 1601.Alternatively, the screen modes may be switched depending on the kind ofthe image displayed on the display portion 1602. For example, when asignal for an image displayed in the display portion is data of movingimages, the screen mode is switched to the display mode. When the signalis text data, the screen mode is switched to the input mode.

Further, in the input mode, when input by touching the display portion1602 is not performed for a certain period while a signal detected bythe optical sensor in the display portion 1602 is detected, the screenmode may be controlled so as to be switched from the input mode to thedisplay mode.

The display portion 1602 may function as an image sensor. For example,an image of the palm print, the fingerprint, or the like is taken bytouching the display portion 1602 with the palm or the finger, wherebypersonal authentication can be performed. Further, by providing abacklight or sensing light source emitting a near-infrared light for thedisplay portion, an image of a finger vein, a palm vein, or the like canbe taken.

Any of the semiconductor devices described in the embodiments can beapplied to the display portion 1602. For example, a plurality of thinfilm transistors described in the embodiments can be disposed asswitching elements in pixels.

FIG. 20B also illustrates an example of a mobile phone. A portableinformation terminal whose example is illustrated in FIG. 20B can have aplurality of functions. For example, in addition to a telephonefunction, such a portable information terminal can have a function ofprocessing a variety of pieces of data by incorporating a computer.

The portable information terminal illustrated in FIG. 20B has a housing1800 and a housing 1801. The housing 1801 includes a display panel 1802,a speaker 1803, a microphone 1804, a pointing device 1806, a camera lens1807, an external connection terminal 1808, and the like. The housing1800 includes a keyboard 1810, an external memory slot 1811, and thelike. In addition, an antenna is incorporated in the housing 1800.

The display panel 1802 is provided with a touch panel. A plurality ofoperation keys 1805 displayed as images is indicated by dashed lines inFIG. 20B.

Further, in addition to the above structure, a contactless IC chip, asmall memory device, or the like may be incorporated.

The semiconductor device described in any of the embodiments can be usedfor the display panel 1802. In the display panel 1802, the direction ofdisplay is changed appropriately depending on an application mode.Further, the portable information terminal is provided with the cameralens 1807 on the same surface as the display panel 1802, and thus it canbe used as a video phone. The speaker 1803 and the microphone 1804 canbe used for videophone calls, recording, playing sound, etc. as well asvoice calls. Moreover, the housings 1800 and 1801 in a state where theyare developed as illustrated in FIG. 20B can be slid so that one islapped over the other; therefore, the size of the portable informationterminal can be reduced, which makes the portable information terminalsuitable for being carried.

The external connection terminal 1808 can be connected to an AC adapterand various types of cables such as a USB cable, and charging and datacommunication with a personal computer are possible. Moreover, a storagemedium can be inserted into the external memory slot 1811 so that alarge amount of data can be stored and can be moved.

Further, in addition to the above functions, an infrared communicationfunction, a television reception function, or the like may be provided.

FIG. 21A illustrates an example of a television set. In a television set9600, a display portion 9603 is incorporated in a housing 9601. Thedisplay portion 9603 can display images. Here, the housing 9601 issupported by a stand 9605.

The television set 9600 can be operated with an operation switch of thehousing 9601 or a separate remote controller 9610. Channels can beswitched and volume can be controlled with operation keys 9609 of theremote controller 9610, whereby an image displayed on the displayportion 9603 can be controlled. Moreover, the remote controller 9610 maybe provided with a display portion 9607 for displaying data outputtedfrom the remote controller 9610.

Note that the television set 9600 is provided with a receiver, a modem,and the like. With the use of the receiver, general TV broadcasts can bereceived. Moreover, when the display device is connected to acommunication network with or without wires via the modem, one-way (froma sender to a receiver) or two-way (between a sender and a receiver orbetween receivers) information communication can be performed.

The semiconductor devices described in any of the embodiments can beapplied to the display portion 9603. In the display portion 9603, forexample, the plurality of thin film transistors described in any of theother embodiments can be provided as switching elements of pixels.

FIG. 21B illustrates an example of a digital photo frame. For example,in a digital photo frame 9700, a display portion 9703 is incorporated ina housing 9701. The display portion 9703 can display a variety ofimages. For example, the display portion 9703 can display data of animage taken with a digital camera or the like and function as a normalphoto frame.

The semiconductor devices described in any of the embodiments can beapplied to the display portion 9703. In the display portion 9703, forexample, the plurality of thin film transistors described in any of theother embodiments can be provided as switching elements of pixels.

Note that the digital photo frame 9700 is provided with an operationportion, an external connection terminal (a USB terminal, a terminalconnectable to a variety of cables such as a USB cable, or the like), arecording medium insertion portion, and the like. Although thesecomponents may be provided on the same surface as the display portion,it is preferable to provide them on the side surface or the back surfacefor design aesthetics. For example, a memory storing data of an imagetaken with a digital camera is inserted in the recording mediuminsertion portion of the digital photo frame and the data is loaded,whereby the image can be displayed on the display portion 9703.

The digital photo frame 9700 may be configured to transmit and receivedata wirelessly. Through wireless communication, desired image data canbe loaded to be displayed.

FIG. 22 is a portable game machine and is constituted by two housings ofa housing 9881 and a housing 9891 which are connected with a jointportion 9893 so that the portable game machine can be opened or folded.A display portion 9882 and a display portion 9883 are incorporated inthe housing 9881 and the housing 9891, respectively.

The semiconductor devices described in any of the embodiments can beapplied to the display portion 9883. In the display portion 9883, forexample, the plurality of thin film transistors described in any of theother embodiments can be provided as switching elements of pixels.

In addition, the portable game machine illustrated in FIG. 22 isprovided with a speaker portion 9884, a recording medium insertionportion 9886, an LED lamp 9890, input means (operation keys 9885, aconnection terminal 9887, a sensor 9888 (having a function of measuringforce, displacement, position, speed, acceleration, angular velocity,rotation number, distance, light, liquid, magnetism, temperature,chemical substance, sound, time, hardness, electric field, current,voltage, electric power, radial ray, flow rate, humidity, gradient,vibration, smell, or infrared ray), and a microphone 9889), and thelike. Needless to say, the structure of the portable game machine is notlimited to the above and other structures provided with at least thethin film transistor disclosed in this specification can be employed.The portable game machine may include an additional accessory asappropriate. The portable game machine illustrated in FIG. 22 has afunction of reading a program or data stored in the recording medium todisplay it on the display portion, and a function of sharing data withanother portable game machine by wireless communication. Note that afunction of the portable game machine illustrated in FIG. 22 is notlimited to these, and the portable game machine can have a variety offunctions.

Embodiment 14

The semiconductor device disclosed in this specification can be used aselectronic paper. Electronic paper can be used in electronic devices inall fields as long as they display information. For example, electronicpaper can be applied to an e-book reader (an electronic book), a poster,an advertisement in a vehicle such as a train, or displays of variouscards such as a credit card. An example of such electronic devices isillustrated in FIG. 23.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of an e-book reader. For example, ane-book reader 2700 includes two housings of a housing 2701 and a housing2703. The housing 2701 and the housing 2703 are combined with a hinge2711 so that the e-book reader 2700 can be opened and closed with thehinge 2711 as an axis. Such a structure enables the e-book reader 2700to operate like a paper book.

A display portion 2705 and a display portion 2707 are incorporated inthe housing 2701 and the housing 2703, respectively. The display portion2705 and the display portion 2707 may display one image or differentimages. In the case where the display portion 2705 and the displayportion 2707 display different images, for example, a display portion onthe right side (the display portion 2705 in FIG. 23) can display textand a display portion on the left side (the display portion 2707 in FIG.23) can display graphics.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example in which the housing 2701 is providedwith an operation portion and the like. For example, the housing 2701 isprovided with a power switch 2721, an operation key 2723, a speaker2725, and the like. With the operation key 2723, pages can be turned.Note that a keyboard, a pointing device, or the like may also beprovided on the surface of the housing, on which the display portion isprovided. Furthermore, an external connection terminal (an earphoneterminal, a USB terminal, a terminal that can be connected to variouscables such as an AC adapter and a USB cable, or the like), a recordingmedium insertion portion, and the like may be provided on the backsurface or the side surface of the housing. Moreover, the e-book reader2700 may have a function of an electronic dictionary.

The e-book reader 2700 may have a configuration capable of wirelesslytransmitting and receiving data. Through wireless communication, desiredbook data or the like can be purchased and downloaded from an electronicbook server.

This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with theother embodiments.

Embodiment 15

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, impurities tobe donors (or acceptors) of carriers in an oxide semiconductor arereduced to a very low level, whereby the oxide semiconductor is made tobe intrinsic or substantially intrinsic, and the oxide semiconductor isused for a thin film transistor.

FIG. 24 is a band structure of a portion between a source and a drain ofsuch a transistor. For a highly purified oxide semiconductor, the Fermilevel is located in the middle of the forbidden band under an idealcondition.

In this case, φ_(m) is a work function and χ is an electron affinity ofthe oxide semiconductor.

Here, at a junction surface, the Fermi level of metal for an electrodeis the same as the level of the conduction band of an oxidesemiconductor if the equation φ_(m)=χ is satisfied. When the right sideof the equation is greater than the left side, an ohmic contact isprovided. It is assumed that an oxide semiconductor has a band gap of3.05 eV and an electron affinity of 4.3 eV and is in an intrinsic state(the carrier density: approximately 1×10⁻⁷/cm³), and a source electrodeand a drain electrode are formed using titanium (Ti) having a workfunction of 4.3 eV. Under these conditions, a Shottky barrier withrespect to electrons is not formed as illustrated in FIG. 24.

FIG. 25 illustrates a state where a positive voltage is applied to thedrain side in a transistor formed using an oxide semiconductor. FIG. 25illustrates the case where a positive voltage (VD>0) is applied and avoltage is not applied to a gate (VG=0) (shown by dashed lines) or apositive voltage is applied to a gate (VG>0) (shown by solid lines).Since the band gap of an oxide semiconductor is wide, the intrinsiccarrier density of a highly purified oxide semiconductor which isintrinsic or substantially intrinsic is zero or as close as zero. In thecase where a voltage is not applied to the gate, a carrier (electron) isnot injected to the oxide semiconductor side from an electrode becauseof high ohmic contact resistance, so that a current does not flow, whichmeans an off state. On the other hand, when a positive voltage isapplied to the gate, ohmic contact resistance is reduced, and thus acurrent flows, which means an in state.

FIG. 26A is an energy band diagram of a MOS transistor formed using anoxide semiconductor, to which a positive gate voltage is applied. Inthis case, almost no thermally excited carriers exist in a highlypurified oxide semiconductor. Thus, carriers are not stored also in thevicinity of a gate insulating film. However, as illustrated in FIG. 25,transmission of carriers injected from the source side is possible.

FIG. 26B is an energy band diagram of a MOS transistor formed using anoxide semiconductor, to which a negative gate voltage is applied. Thereare almost no minority carriers (holes) in an oxide semiconductor;therefore, carriers are not stored also in the vicinity of a gateinsulating film. This means that off current is small.

FIG. 27 is a band diagram of a transistor formed using a siliconsemiconductor. For a silicon semiconductor, the band gap is 1.12 eV, theintrinsic carrier density is 1.45×10¹⁰/cm³ (300 K), and carriers existeven at room temperatures. The thermally excited carriers are notnegligible even at room temperatures. Thus, off current is greatlyvaried depending on a temperature.

In such a manner, not only by simply using an oxide semiconductor with awide band gap for a transistor, but also by reducing impurities to bedonors, such as hydrogen, and thus setting the carrier density to1×10¹⁴/cm³ or less, preferably 1×10¹²/cm³ or less, carriers excited byheat applied to the transistor at practical operation temperatures canbe removed, so that a transistor can be operated by only carriersinjected from the source side. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain atransistor whose off current is reduced to 1×10⁻¹³ [A] or less and ishardly changed due to temperature change, whereby the transistor can beoperated in an extremely stable manner.

Embodiment 16

In this embodiment, measured values of off current using a test elementgroup (also referred to as a TEG) will be described below.

FIG. 28 shows initial characteristics of a thin film transistor withL/W=3 μm/10000 μm in which 200 thin film transistors each virtually withL/W=3 μm/50 μm are connected in parallel. In addition, a top view isshown in FIG. 29A and a partially enlarged top view thereof is show inFIG. 29B. The region enclosed by a dotted line in FIG. 29B is a thinfilm transistor of one stage with L/W=3 μm/50 μm and Lov=1.5 μm. Inorder to measure initial characteristics of the thin film transistor,the changing characteristics of the source-drain current (hereinafterreferred to as a drain current or Id), i.e., Vg-Id characteristics, weremeasured, under the conditions where the substrate temperature was setto room temperature, the voltage between source and drain (hereinafter,a drain voltage or Vd) was set to 10 V, and the voltage between sourceand gate (hereinafter, a gate voltage or Vg) was changed from −20 V to+20 V Note that FIG. 28 shows Vg in the range of from −20 V to +5 V.

As shown in FIG. 28, the thin film transistor having a channel width Wof 10000 μm has an off current of 1×10⁻¹³ A or less at Vd of 1 V and 10V, which is less than or equal to the resolution (100 fA) of ameasurement device (a semiconductor parameter analyzer, Agilent 4156Cmanufactured by Agilent Technologies Inc.). The off current of thetransistor per 10000 micrometers in channel width W is 1×10⁻¹³ A orless. Thus, it can be said that the off current of the transistor permicrometer in channel width W is 1×10⁻¹³ A or less. Further, the offcurrent of the transistor per 10000 micrometers in channel width W,which is 1×10⁻¹³ A or less, can be converted into the off current of thetransistor per micrometer in channel width W, which is 1×10⁻¹⁷ A orless.

A method for manufacturing the thin film transistor used for themeasurement is described.

First, a silicon nitride layer was formed as a base layer over a glasssubstrate by a CVD method, and a silicon oxynitride layer was formedover the silicon nitride layer. A tungsten layer was formed as a gateelectrode layer over the silicon oxynitride layer by a sputteringmethod. Here, the gate electrode layer was formed by selectively etchingthe tungsten layer.

Then, a silicon oxynitride layer having a thickness of 100 nm was formedas a gate insulating layer over the gate electrode layer by a CVDmethod.

Then, an oxide semiconductor layer having a thickness of 50 nm wasformed over the gate insulating layer by a sputtering method using anIn—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor film formation target (at a molarratio of In₂O₃:Ga₂O₃:ZnO=1:1:2). Here, an island-shaped oxidesemiconductor layer was formed by selectively etching the oxidesemiconductor layer.

Then, first heat treatment was performed on the oxide semiconductorlayer in a nitrogen atmosphere in a clean oven at 450° C. for 1 hour.

Then, a titanium layer (having a thickness of 150 nm) was formed as asource electrode layer and a drain electrode layer over the oxidesemiconductor layer by a sputtering method. Here, the source electrodelayer and the drain electrode layer were formed by selective etchingsuch that 200 thin film transistors each having a channel length L of 3μm and a channel width W of 50 μm were connected in parallel to obtain athin film transistor virtually with L/W=3 μm/10000 μm.

Then, a silicon oxide layer having a thickness of 300 nm was formed as aprotective insulating layer in contact with the oxide semiconductorlayer by a reactive sputtering method. Here, opening portions wereformed over the gate electrode layer, the source electrode layer, andthe drain electrode layer by selectively etching the silicon oxide layerwhich is a protective layer. After that, second heat treatment wasperformed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 250° C. for 1 hour.

Then, heat treatment was performed at 150° C. for 10 hours before themeasurement of Vg-Id characteristics.

Through the above process, a bottom-gate thin film transistor wasmanufactured.

The reason why the thin film transistor has an off current ofapproximately 1×10⁻¹³ A as shown in FIG. 28 is that the concentration ofhydrogen in the oxide semiconductor layer could be sufficiently reducedin the above manufacturing process. The concentration of hydrogen in theoxide semiconductor layer is 5×10¹⁹/cm³ or less, preferably 5×10¹⁸/cm³or less, more preferably 5×10¹⁷/cm³ or less. Note that the concentrationof hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor layer was measured by secondaryion mass spectrometry (SIMS).

Although the example of using an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor isdescribed, this embodiment is not particularly limited thereto. Anotheroxide semiconductor material, such as an In—Sn—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor, a Sn—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor, anAl—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor, a Sn—Al—Zn—O-based oxidesemiconductor, an In—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor, an In—Sn—O-basedoxide semiconductor, a Sn—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor, anAl—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor, an In—O-based oxide semiconductor, aSn—O-based oxide semiconductor, or a Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor, canalso be used. Furthermore, as an oxide semiconductor material, anIn—Al—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor mixed with AlO_(x) of 2.5 wt % to10 wt % or an In—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor mixed with SiO_(x) of2.5 wt % to 10 wt % can be used.

The carrier concentration of the oxide semiconductor layer which ismeasured by a carrier measurement device is lower than or equivalent tothe carrier concentration of silicon, 1.45×10¹⁰/cm³, preferably lessthan 5×10¹⁴/cm³, more preferably 5×10¹²/cm³ or less. In other words, thecarrier concentration of the oxide semiconductor layer can be made asclose to zero as possible.

The thin film transistor can also have a channel length L of 10 nm to1000 nm, which enables an increase in circuit operation speed, and theoff current is extremely small, which enables a further reduction inpower consumption.

In addition, in circuit design, the oxide semiconductor layer can beregarded as an insulator when the thin film transistor is in an offstate.

After that, the temperature characteristics of off current of the thinfilm transistor manufactured in this embodiment were evaluated.Temperature characteristics are important in considering theenvironmental resistance, maintenance of performance, or the like of anend product in which the thin film transistor is used. It is to beunderstood that a smaller amount of change is more preferable, whichincreases the degree of freedom for product designing.

For the temperature characteristics, the Vg-Id characteristics wereobtained using a constant-temperature chamber under the conditions wheresubstrates provided with thin film transistors were kept at respectiveconstant temperatures of −30° C., 0° C., 25° C., 40° C., 60° C., 80° C.,100° C., and 120° C., the drain voltage was set to 6 V, and the gatevoltage was changed from −20 V to +20V.

FIG. 30A shows Vg-Id characteristics measured at the above temperaturesand superimposed on one another, and FIG. 30B shows an enlarged view ofa range of off current enclosed by a dotted line in FIG. 30A. Therightmost curve indicated by an arrow in the diagram is a curve obtainedat −30° C.; the leftmost curve is a curve obtained at 120° C.; andcurves obtained at the other temperatures are located therebetween. Thetemperature dependence of on-state currents can hardly be observed. Onthe other hand, as clearly shown also in the enlarged view of FIG. 30B,the off currents are less than or equal to 1×10⁻¹² A, which is near theresolution of the measurement device, at all temperatures except in thevicinity of a gate voltage of 20 V, and the temperature dependencethereof is not observed. In other words, even at a high temperature of120° C., the off current is kept less than or equal to 1×10⁻¹² A, andgiven that the channel width W is 10000 μm, it can be seen that the offcurrent is significantly small.

A thin film transistor including a purified oxide semiconductor showsalmost no dependence of off current on temperature. This also resultsfrom the fact that the oxide semiconductor has an energy gap of 3 eV ormore and includes very few intrinsic carriers. In addition, the sourceregion and the drain region are in a degenerated state, which is also afactor for showing no temperature dependence. The thin film transistoris mainly operated with carriers which are injected from the degeneratedsource region to the oxide semiconductor, and the above characteristics(independence of off current on temperature) can be explained byindependence of carrier density on temperature.

In the case where a memory circuit (memory element) or the like ismanufactured using a thin film transistor having such an extremely smalloff current, there is very little leakage. Therefore, memory data can bestored for a longer period of time. Note that memory elements hereincludes a logic circuit in its category.

This application is based on Japanese Patent Application serial no.2009-238918 filed with Japan Patent Office on Oct. 16, 2009, the entirecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. A semiconductor device comprising: first to eighth transistors, firstand second capacitors; wherein one of source and drain of the firsttransistor is electrically connected to one of source and drain of thesecond transistor, wherein one of source and drain of the thirdtransistor is electrically connected to a gate of the first transistor,wherein one of source and drain of the fourth transistor is electricallyconnected to a gate of the second transistor, wherein a first electrodeof the first capacitor is electrically connected to the gate of thesecond transistor, wherein a second electrode of the first capacitor iselectrically connected to the other of source and drain of the secondtransistor, wherein one of source and drain of the fifth transistor iselectrically connected to one of source and drain of the sixthtransistor, wherein one of source and drain of the seventh transistor iselectrically connected to a gate of the fifth transistor, wherein one ofsource and drain of the eighth transistor is electrically connected to agate of the sixth transistor, wherein a first electrode of the secondcapacitor is electrically connected to the gate of the sixth transistor,wherein a second electrode of the second capacitor is electricallyconnected to the other of source and drain of the sixth transistor,wherein power supply voltage is supplied to the other of source anddrain of the second transistor, wherein the power supply voltage issupplied to the other of source and drain of the sixth transistor,wherein the one of source and drain of the first transistor iselectrically connected to a first output terminal, wherein the other ofsource and drain of the third transistor is electrically connected to afirst input terminal, wherein the one of source and drain of the fifthtransistor is electrically connected to a second output terminal, andwherein the other of source and drain of the seventh transistor iselectrically connected to a second input terminal.
 2. A display devicecomprising: a driver circuit comprising the semiconductor deviceaccording to claim 1; and a pixel electrically connected to the drivercircuit.
 3. An electronic device comprising: the semiconductor deviceaccording to claim 1; and an input unit, an LED lamp, or a speaker. 4.The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein an off currentper micrometer of a channel width of each of the first to eighthtransistors is less than or equal to 1×10⁻¹⁷ A/μm at room temperature.5. A semiconductor device comprising: first to eighth transistors, firstand second capacitors; wherein one of source and drain of the firsttransistor is electrically connected to one of source and drain of thesecond transistor, wherein one of source and drain of the thirdtransistor is electrically connected to a gate of the first transistor,wherein one of source and drain of the fourth transistor is electricallyconnected to a gate of the second transistor, wherein a first electrodeof the first capacitor is electrically connected to the gate of thesecond transistor, wherein a second electrode of the first capacitor iselectrically connected to the other of source and drain of the secondtransistor, wherein one of source and drain of the fifth transistor iselectrically connected to one of source and drain of the sixthtransistor, wherein one of source and drain of the seventh transistor iselectrically connected to a gate of the fifth transistor, wherein one ofsource and drain of the eighth transistor is electrically connected to agate of the sixth transistor, wherein a first electrode of the secondcapacitor is electrically connected to the gate of the sixth transistor,wherein a second electrode of the second capacitor is electricallyconnected to the other of source and drain of the sixth transistor,wherein the other of source and drain of the second transistor iselectrically connected to the other of source and drain of the sixthtransistor, wherein the one of source and drain of the first transistoris electrically connected to a first output terminal, wherein the otherof source and drain of the third transistor is electrically connected toa first input terminal, wherein the one of source and drain of the fifthtransistor is electrically connected to a second output terminal, andwherein the other of source and drain of the seventh transistor iselectrically connected to a second input terminal.
 6. A display devicecomprising: a driver circuit comprising the semiconductor deviceaccording to claim 5; and a pixel electrically connected to the drivercircuit.
 7. An electronic device comprising: the semiconductor deviceaccording to claim 5; and an input unit, an LED lamp, or a speaker. 8.The semiconductor device according to claim 5, wherein an off currentper micrometer of a channel width of each of the first to eighthtransistors is less than or equal to 1×10⁻¹⁷ A/μm at room temperature.